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The Early History 



First Church of Christ 



NEW LONDON, CONN. 



Rev. S. LEHOY BLAKE, D. D., 

Pastor of tlie Church, from March 30, 1887. 



PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION. 



NKW LONDON : 
Peess of The Day Publishing Comp 

i8 97 . 



TWO e9P!lS RECEIVED 




OF WH4Q 



LIBRARY 
REM 



WASHINGTON 



A*** 



Copyright 
Bt S. Lerot Blake, 

1897. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Introductory 

II. Puritanism in Connecticut 

III. The Origin of the First Church of Christ 

IV. Eichard Blinman's Pastorate . 
V. Gershom Bulkeley's Pastorate 

VI. Simon Bradstreet's Pastorate 

VII. Membership From 1642 to 1683 

VIII. The Half-way Covenant .... 

IX. The Kogerenes . . . 

X. Gurdon Salton stall's Pastorate 

XI. Governor Saltonstall .... 

XII. The Diaconate 

XIII. Men Who Have Entered the Ministry From 

the Church 



PAGE. 
1 

8 

31 

55 

91 

119 

154 

162 

175 

191 

230 

265 

293 



I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

This Church has no record of its organization. Its 
origin, therefore, has been involved in uncertainty. 
Dr. Trumbull, the historian of Connecticut, supposed 
that it was constituted when its records began, Octo- 
ber 5, 1670 — the day of Mr. Bradstreet's ordination. 
But this date seemed altogether impossible. It was 
not like the men of those times to let twenty-five 
years pass in the history of a town with no Church. 
Besides, if the organization had taken place on that 
date, a record of the fact would have been made in 
the proceedings of the Colonial Legislature, which 
had voted that no Church should be embodied ' ' with- 
out consent of the General Court, and approbation of 
the neighboring elders." This fact, together with 
the fact that no record of any application to the Gen- 
eral Court for permission to be embodied into a 
Church here can be found, led the writer to believe 
not only that the Church is older than the date of Mr. 
Bradstreet's ordination, but also that it is older than 
1650 — the date of Mr. Blinman's arrival in Pequot. 
Soon after assuming the pastorate he set about justi- 



2 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

fying these convictions. The third chapter records 
the result. 

If the Church had an earlier existence, then Mr. 
Bradstreet's list of members ought not to be the first. 
Proofs were soon found that a much earlier catalogue 
could be made out ; proofs so positive as to leave no 
room whatever to doubt that there was a Church in 
New London long before October 5, 1670. The 
result appears in Chapter VII. It shows reasons to 
believe that there were Church members, whose 
names are known to us, twenty years before Mr. 
Bradstreet's list was made. 

A Church without deacons would be a thing almost, 
if not quite, unknown among Congregational Churches. 
The writer found evidence that there were such of- 
ficers early in the history of the Church in New Lon- 
don. Chapter X embodies the result of the search. 
It seemed best, while upon the topic, to complete the 
list and bring it down to date, although this is beyond 
the limit of the period covered by this volume. The 
same may be said of the list of men raised up for the 
ministry given in Chapter XL 

The name which this Church ibears, The First 
Church of Christ, was in the early days given to 
the first Church planted in a town. Thus the first 
Church in New Haven, in Hartford, in Middletown, 
in Fairfield, and in other ancient towns were origi- 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

nally called and are still known by this name. A 
vote passed June 19, 1700, is recorded on our ancient 
minutes, in which. " The First Church of Christ" is, 
by its own official action, the name applied to this 
Church j is, in fact, the name it bore in Gloucester. 
Besides, for seventy-five years this was the only 
Church, of any name, on the ground; and therefore 
its right to be called the First Church of New Lon- 
don, and indeed of Xew London county, cannot be 
questioned. 

A Church so ancient must have much in common 
with the history of the town which has grown up 
around it, and much in common with the world's 
progress during its life. From 1651 no Church, save 
those at Hartford and Xew Haven, was as closely 
connected with the civil and ecclesiastical history of 
Connecticut. Three of the Governors of the Colony 
were furnished from among its adherents — John 
Winthrop, Jr., Fitz-John Winthrop and Gurdon Sal- 
tonstall. Obadiah Bruen, a member of it, is named 
in the charter given by Charles II. Its pastor, Gov- 
ernor Saltonstall, had a conspicuous hand in framing 
the Saybrook Platform and was influential in the 
establishment of Yale College in its home in Xew 
Haven. Two of its pastors, Adams and McEwen, 
were members of the Board of Trustees of the College. 
Adams was offered the Presidencv in 1714, which 



4 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

office he declined at the urgent request of the town. 
Other similar facts show how close has been the touch 
of this Church with the events which have marked the 
world's progress during the last two hundred and 
fifty years. 

So far as is known no other Church in Connecticut 
ever gave its pastor to be Governor of the State. It 
is also worth mention, as giving a hint of the stable 
character of the Church, that it has had but twelve 
ministers in two hundred and fifty-five years. It is 
believed that no other Church of equal age in the 
State, and few in the country, can show a like record. 
Two of its pastorates together covered almost a 
century. That of Eliphalet Adams extended from 
February 9, 1709, to October 4, 1753, when he died 
— a period of over forty-four and a half years. The 
pastorate of Dr. McEwen was the longest in the his- 
tory of the Church, and extended from October 23, 
1806, to September 7, 1860, when he died — a period 
of almost fifty- four years. The shortest ministry was 
three years, and was that of Mr. Bulkeley, who 
refused to be settled. The average length of pastor- 
ates, not counting Mr. Bulkeley, who was not or- 
dained, has been over twenty- three years. It may 
be added that in not a single case has a pastor been 
dismissed, except in response to his own earnest 
desire. 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

The record of the Church, with reference to the 
branches of work and forms of activity which belong 
to the present, will appear in another volume. The 
great work of missions, the various branches of evan- 
gelism, the work in the slums of the great centers of 
population, movements like the Y. M. C. A., &c, 
were unknown to the seventeenth century. The aim 
of the present volume is to discover the origin of the 
Church, and trace the history of its beginnings to the 
time of Eliphalet Adams. 

As the history of a Church is largely a story of its 
pastorates, we have written the narrative in this form. 
The biography of each minister is given only so far 
as his life was part of the life of the Church and 
gave significance to it. If the story seems somewhat 
identical with that of the town, it is because the 
town was the parish, and in some remote sense the 
Church, till 1726. However, this volume groups 
together the facts which belong distinctively to the 
life of the Church. 

Special mention should be made here of Miss Caul- 
kins' invaluable History of New London, as one of 
the principal and most reliable authorities consulted. 
The Colonial records of Connecticut and of Massa- 
chusetts have also been searched. The Contribu- 
tions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, 
as well as standard works on Congregationalism, 



6 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

have furnished material. The records of the Church, 
although far from being full, have also aided in the 
preparation of this volume. These and other author- 
ities are noted in the text, and indebtedness to them 
is hereby acknowledged. 

The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
Church should have been held in May, 1892. But at 
that time the date of the organization was too prob- 
lematical. This volume is sent forth in lieu of such 
a celebration. Certainly whoever are members of the 
Church in 1942, and whoever is pastor, they will not 
hesitate to celebrate its three hundredth anniversary 
in May of that year, and before the thirteenth day. 
Nor will there be any doubt about observing the two 
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its planting in 
New London in the early half of 1901. 

This volume is also sent forth with the hope that 
its perusal may stimulate a new interest in this ven- 
erable Church on the part of those who now are mem- 
bers of it. They stand in the line of succession from 
eminent men and women, and compose a Church 
which has a history of which they may well be proud. 
Ancient as it is, it has the vigor of youth, and stands 
in line with the most advanced work of the Kingdom, 
yet without surrendering anything of that wholesome 
conservatism which refuses to remove the ancient 
landmarks. 



INTRODUCTORY. / 

With a prayer for continued divine blessing, this 
volume, dedicated to the worthy memory of the men 
and women vrho laid the foundations and reared the 
superstructure of our civil, social and religious free- 
dom, is sent forth as a contribution to the ecclesias- 
tical history of Connecticut. 



II. 

PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 



Organizations and communities get, in their begin- 
nings, that character which usually survives all 
changes, and remains to the end. The men who 
found a State, and lay the first courses in the rising 
wall ; the men who begin a Church, lay its corner- 
stone, and erect it out of principles and beliefs which 
have been inwrought into the fibre of their being, give 
to each a permanent trend, which is not likely to 
change, without an irruption of opposing civil and 
religious forces, which sweep away the old land- 
marks. It is well therefore to look to find the roots 
of the State, of the social order, of the Church. 
Whatever else we may say, or think, we shall be 
obliged to admit that much of what we prize and 
enjoy today, is directly due to the men who laid 
the foundations. 

It is quite the fashion now to speak slightingly of 
the so-called "blue laws of Connecticut," and of the 
Puritanism of the fathers. But it must not be for- 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 9 

gotten that the Constitution drafted by Puritan 
Thomas Hooker in 1639, the Charter secured by 
Puritan John Winthrop, Jr., from Charles II. in 
1662. and the present Constitution of this State, 
adopted in 1818, were the statement and guarantee 
of the principles of civil and religious liberty which 
was assured to the citizens of this Colony, and which 
we today enjoy. We shall find, if we make careful 
search, that our freedom and the free institutions of 
which we boast were of a Puritan source. 

December 21, 1620, was an epoch-making date. 
The landing of the Pilgrims was an epoch-making 
event. It was the beginning of the planting of New 
England j it was the first stone laid in the foundation 
of this free government. The landing of John Win- 
throp and his company at Massachusetts Bay June 
27 [17 o. s.], 1630, was another epoch-making 
event, and was the second step in the planting of 
New England. Winthrop wrote in his journal, a few 
days after his arrival: "Thursday, 17 [June]. We 
went to Mattachusetts to find out a place for our sit- 
ting down." 

It is with this latter event that the civil and reli- 
gious history of New London, and of Connecticut, is 
closely allied. The Arabella and her companion 
ships, not the Mayflower, brought to these shores the 
Colony from which came the men who planted Con - 



10 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

necticut, and brought hither three or four of its ear- 
liest Churches. m The planting of Connecticut was the 
third step in the planting of New England. The 
Churches brought hither from the Colony of Massa- 
chusetts Bay were the Church in Windsor, which 
emigrated from Dorchester in 1635 with Rev. John 
Warham j the first Church in Hartford, which emi- 
grated from Cambridge in 1636 with Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, of whom it is said that he was quite as fa- 
mous a preacher as John Cotton, who was the leading 
man of his times in Massachusetts; and the First 
Church of Christ, New London, which, as we expect 
to show, emigrated from Gloucester in 1651 with 
Rev. Richard Blinman, its first pastor. Besides these 
facts is this also, namely, that the authority under 
which John Winthrop, Jr., founded the Pequot Col- 
ony was given by the Legislature of the Colony of 
Massachusetts Bay. 

It should be said, however, that the Puritans who 
came to Connecticut under the lead of Hooker, and 
those who settled New Haven under the lead of John 
Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, and the men who 
settled the Pequot Colony under the lead of John 
Winthrop, Jr., had quite as much of the free and 
liberal spirit of the Pilgrims of Plymouth as the Puri- 
tans of Massachusetts Bay, of whom John Cotton was 
the ecclesiastical head, who had not quite forgotten 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 11 

the aristocratic spirit o£ the Church from which he 
fled. It was John Cotton who said that he did "not 
conceive that God ever did ordain" Democracy "as 
a fit government either for Church or Common- 
wealth." Hooker said, " In matters which concern 
the common good a general Council chosen by all to 
transact businesses which concern all I conceive most 
suitable to rule and most safe for relief for the 
whole." Thus it will be seen that these two men 
were wide apart in their notions of government. 
This was the sufficient reason why Hooker and his 
company did not remain in Massachusetts. Hooker's 
sentiment struck the keynote of popular liberty in 
civil affairs, afterwards promulgated in our Federal 
Constitution. It was the kind of Puritanism which 
was to dominate the Colony of Connecticut. It was 
in complete harmony with the language of the com- 
pact signed on board the Mayflower — we ' ' doe by 
these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence 
of God and one of another, covenant and combine 
ourselves together into a Civill Body Politicke, for 
our better ordering and preservation and furtherance 
of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof to enact, 
constitute and frame such just and equall Lawes, 
Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, offices from time to 
time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient 
for the generall good of the Colony : vnto which we 



12 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

promise all due submission and obedience." We 
shall find that the Puritanism which prevailed in Con- 
necticut, determined as it was by the liberal spirit of 
Thomas Hooker, and John Davenport, and John Win- 
throp, Jr., was quite a different affair and of a 
far milder type than the Puritanism of Massachu- 
setts Bay, which was dominated by the more austere 
and aristocratic spirit of John Cotton. And his 
notions of civil government were far less productive 
of free citizenship than were those of Thomas Hooker. 
Thus from the first Connecticut was to all intents and 
purposes a free and independent State, and when the 
War of the Revolution broke out, this Colony had 
little to gain from it in the way of civil liberty. For 
under its Charter, which was but a restatement of 
Hooker's Constitution, every citizen had all the rights 
of Englishmen under the Crown, and elected their 
own Governors — a privilege accorded to none of the 
other Colonies, save Rhode Island. So that the Puri- 
tanism of Connecticut always made for the freedom 
of the citizen under the laws. Thus the stamp of 
Puritanism was upon the civil and religious founda- 
tions of this Commonwealth. 

The first minister in New London of whom we 
have any account was Rev. Thomas Peters, an uncle 
of Mrs. Winthrop, who had been acting as chaplain 
to Mr. Fen wick and the garrison stationed at Say- 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 13 

brook. When the plan of a settlement at Pequot 
was proposed, he entered heartily into it, doubtless 
with the expectation of becoming a permanent resi- 
dent, and, it may be, of exercising his functions as a 
clergyman. It is not at all unlikely that during his 
stay divine services were held. This was in 1646. 
The Legislature of Massachusetts, in its act by which 
it incorporated the Pequot plantation, associated him 
with Mr. Winthrop "for the better carrying on of 
the plantation." 

Mr. Peters was a Puritan clergyman who had been 
ejected from his parish in Cornwall, England. He 
was a brother of the famous Hugh Peters, of Salem, 
who was with Hooker in Holland, and who came to 
New England in 1635. [Punchard's Hist. Con- 
g'lsm, vol. iv, pp. 57, 58.] In the autumn of 1646 he 
was called back to his former flock in Cornwall, and 
left Pequot never to return. Mr. Edward Winslow 
writes in 1647: "Mr. Thomas Peters, a minister 
that was driven out of Cornwall by Sir Ralph Hop- 
ton in these late wars, and fled to New England for 
shelter, being called back by his people, and now in 
London." It is not known that there was any other 
clergyman in this Colony until Richard Blinman came 
in 1650. It does not follow, however, that there 
were no religious services, for in those days it was 
customary for laymen, especially deacons, to hold 



14 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

services in the absence of clergymen. Here, then, 
we find finger-marks of Puritanism on the founda- 
tions of Connecticut and of New London. If we 
look carefully, we shall find them more clearly de- 
fined. 

John Winthrop, Jr., the founder of New London, 
was the eldest son of John Winthrop, Sr., the first 
governor of Massachusetts. He was born in Groton, 
England, February 12, 1606. His family was one of 
substance and of honorable repute. His father, un- 
less we except himself, was the most distinguished 
Puritan in civil life of the seventeenth century. His 
home at Groton was in the cradle of Puritanism. 
Huntingdonshire on the west gave Oliver Crom- 
well to the world. At the University of Cambridge, 
near by, had studied some of the leading Separatists 
and Puritans of the times. Among them were these, 
whose names are famous in New England history — 
John Robinson, John Cotton, John Winthrop, Sr., 
Thomas Hooker. The Winthrop family were of the 
Puritan faith. Every breath which the younger Win- 
throp drew was tinctured with it. It ran in the 
blood in his veins. It was a foregone conclusion that 
he would be a Puritan. He could not well have been 
anything else, without violating all the laws of hered- 
ity. He was descended from Adam Winthrop, a 
rich clothier of Suffolk, a man of piety, of culture, 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 15 

and of great strength and decision of character. Of 
his father, John Winthrop, Sr., it is said, "he was 
exemplary for his grave Christian deportment," and 
it is thought that at one time he contemplated enter- 
ing the ministry. But he finally turned his atten- 
tion to the law. 

When John Winthrop, Jr. came to New England, 
like his father he became a Congregationalist. His 
religious character was such as to give ground for 
the belief that he was one of the earliest promoters 
of this Church, and that when it came here in 1651, 
he became a member of it. Certainly he was one 
of its adherents. 

He came to New England in 1631. Four years 
later, under a commission to build a fort at Saybrook, 
he became the first Governor on Connecticut soil — a 
post which he held for a year. In 1645 he broke 
ground for the Pequot Colony, which became a legal 
fact, by act of the Massachusetts legislature, May 6, 
1646. In 1657 he was chosen Governor, and went to 
reside at Hartford. With the exception of a single 
year he was annually re-elected till he died. April 
20, 1662, he secured the charter from Charles II., 
which united the Connecticut and the New Haven 
colonies under one jurisdiction, with himself for 
Governor. He was no common man, says Dr. Trum- 
bull. 



16 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

The reasons for the great Puritan exodus from 
England under Endicott in 1628, under Winthrop in 
1630, with Hooker, Cotton and Stone in 1633, and 
with John Davenport in 1637, are not far to find. The 
religious and political condition of affairs in England 
was repulsive in the extreme to the Puritans, who 
represented the Evangelical element in the Church of 
England. Charles I. was King. Laud was practi- 
cally, as in 1633 he became actually, primate, and 
at the head of ecclesiastical affairs. He formed the 
purpose to raise the English Church to be a reformed 
branch of the great Catholic Church. In keeping 
therewith he sternly repressed the Puritan spirit. All 
hope of purifying the Church was at an end. Non- 
conformity within it was driven to be separation from 
it. Under the pressure, some of the best blood of 
England was driven out of it to find a home where 
there would be freedom to worship God according to 
the dictates of one's conscience, and to hold views 
agreeable to the Evangelical spirit. The pioneer band 
of Pilgrims, who had come to Plymouth in 1620, were 
sending back tidings of the religious liberty which 
they were enjoying. These reports awakened in the 
breasts of the harried Puritans ' ' the dream of a land 
in the West where religion and liberty could find a 
safe and lasting home." [Green's short Hist, of the 
Eng. People, p 498]. In 1628 the Massachusetts 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 17 

company had established a colony at Salem with John 
Endicott as Governor. A charter was secured from 
the King which established the colony at Massachu- 
setts Bay, in which Salem was included. John Win- 
throp was chosen Governor, October 20, 1629. He 
set sail, and led the largest Puritan exodus to these 
shores, in the next year. 

I can not forbear to quote what Green says of this 
company of immigrants to these shores who fled from 
the persecutions and intolerance of the Old World, and 
its established religious customs and beliefs : ' ' They 
were in great part men of the professional and mid- 
dle classes ; some of them men of large landed 
estate, some zealous clergymen like Cotton, Hooker, 
and Roger Williams, some shrewd London lawyers or 
young scholars from Oxford. The bulk were God- 
fearing farmers from Linconshire and the eastern 
counties. They desired, in fact, ' only the best' as 
sharers in their enterprise, men driven forth from 
their fatherland not by earthly want, or by the lust of 
adventure, but by the fear of God, and the zeal for 
a godly worship." [Ibid]. 

After signing a compact to go to Massachusetts as 
its Governor, Mr. Winthrop wrote to his son, John 
Winthrop, Jr., a careful statement of reasons for the 
new plantation in New England. The following 
memorable reply shows how deeply the son entered 



18 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

into sympathy with the religious sentiments o£ his 
father. il For the business of New England, I can 
say no other thing, but that I believe confidently, 
that the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, 
who disposeth all alterations, by his blessed will, 
to his own glory and the good of his ; and, there- 
fore, do assure myself, that all things shall work 
together for the best therein. And for myself, 1 
have seen so much of the vanity of the world, that 
I esteem no more of the diversities of countries, than 
as so many inns, whereof the traveller that hath 
lodged in the best, or in the worst, findeth no differ- 
ence, when he cometh to his journey's end ; and I 
shall call that my country, where I may most glorify 
God, and enjoy the presence of my dearest friends. 
Therefore herein I submit myself to God's will and 
yours, and with your leave, do dedicate myself (lay- 
ing by all desire of other employments whatsoever) to 
the service of God and the company herein, with the 
whole endeavors both of body and mind." Hon. 
Robert C. Winthrop well says of this reply that " it 
is a memorable letter in New England history." It, 
without doubt, confirmed the father in his purpose, 
and may be considered the casting vote which decided 
the planting of New England. Certainly the move- 
ment to Massachusetts, out of which came the move- 
ment which planted colonies at Hartford, at New 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 19 

Haven, and at Pequot, was undertaken in that spirit 
o£ reliance upon God, which was characteristic of the 
Separatist and Puritan revolts from the corruptions 
in life, belief and worship of the Established Church. 

While some left England without thought of sepa- 
rating from its Church, yet on arriving here, almost 
their first step was out of its communion. Win- 
throp ; s first act, within a month after landing at 
Charlestown, was to join in the formation of a Con- 
gregational Church, as an embodied expression of 
the Puritanism which he had embraced while yet in 
England. The settlers of Connecticut followed this 
most worthy practice. The gathering of a Church 
was a formal expression of their purpose in coming 
to these shores, and of the deep religious character 
of the men who were engaged in those majestic 
movements across the sea in search of civil and relig- 
ious liberty. As John Winthrop, Sr., planted a 
Church when he planted a Colony, so we have rea- 
son to believe that it was in the purpose of John 
"Winthrop, Jr., to do. But whereas John Winthrop 
had a large number associated with him to gather into 
a Church at the first, with John Winthrop, Jr., the 
case was far different. 

John Winthrop, Jr., was a Puritan; but his puri- 
tanism was not of the severe type. Witches and 
Quakers, and Ann Hutchinson were summarily dealt 



20 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

with in Massachusetts. But it is not on record that 
the first settlers of Connecticut, and of New London, 
ever lifted the hand of persecution against a single 
person because of his religious beliefs. People 
were punished severely for breaking the laws ; but 
they were not put to torture for holding their convic- 
tions. 

Here we may introduce some of the men who 
were contemporary with Winthrop, and who were 
foremost in planting the colonies which were after- 
wards united to form Connecticut. As we have seen, 
Thomas Hooker led his Church from Cambridge, 
through the wilderness, to a home at Hartford, on 
the banks of the Connecticut, in 1636. He died in 
1647, the year after the planting of the Pequot 
Colony. Dr. Dunning says [Congregationalists in 
America p 150] ' ' the first constitution of Connecticut, 
adopted in 1639, was largely the work of Thomas 
Hooker, and was the first written constitution in his- 
tory which resulted in a civil government. Our pres- 
ent National Government is in direct descent from 
that formed on this constitution, which marked the 
beginning of democracy. Connecticut made to Mas- 
sachusetts the first propositions which resulted in the 
confederacy of the New England colonies, and in this 
movement also the hand of Hooker is conspicuous." 
This early constitution was the model followed in 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 21 

drafting the charter of 1662, which was so broad and 
liberal in its provisions, and so amply secured to the 
inhabitants of the Colony the fullest rights of citizen- 
ship, and of religious conviction, that it remained the 
constitutional law, without revision, more than forty 
years after the Colony became a State. But Thomas 
Hooker was a Puritan, driven out of England into 
Holland because of his religious convictions. If 
Hooker's constitution was the beginning of a demo- 
cratic form of government in the world, if, as some 
allege, it was the first draft of our national declara- 
tion of independence, and of our national constitu- 
tion, then the world, and we of today owe no 
small debt to the Puritanism of Connecticut, as it 
was expressed by the liberal spirit of Thomas Hooker. 
Among the early Puritans who settled Connecticut 
is to be named another man of great moral and intel- 
lectual force and stature. He was a great preacher, 
and there were associated with him laymen of like 
qualities. I refer to Rev. John Davenport, who 
founded the Quinnipiack Colony in 1639. He re- 
mained in New Haven till 1670, and was therefore 
contemporary with nearly the whole of Mr. Win- 
throp's official life, and was his personal friend. 
These men gave tone to the life of the Colony. They 
determined its civil and its religious character. What 
some are pleased to denominate the Blue Laws of 



22 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Connecticut, were simply expressions of those high 
moral convictions of right and wrong, which are 
essential to the largest and most perfect freedom. 
The Puritans believed that he is the freest man who 
is most obedient to duty and to what is right. 

I can not stop to speak in detail of Theophilus 
Eaton, the first Governor of the New Haven Colony, 
nor of "William Janes, the first teacher of that Col- 
ony, nor of a good many others of like qualities. 
Trumbull says of these early Puritan settlers of Con- 
necticut, that " they were of the first class of settlers, 
and all, except the ministers, were chosen magis- 
trates or Governors of the Colony." They were 
picked men which the Puritan exodus brought to 
Massachusetts and passed on to Connecticut. ' ' They 
formed its free and happy constitution, were its legis- 
lators, and some of the chief pillars of the church and 
commonwealth." They were Puritans. They were 
Calvinists. They were Congregationalists. They 
believed in the supreme headship of Christ. They 
were therefore dissenters from the Church of Eng- 
land. The clergy " were distinguished for litera- 
ture, piety, and ministerial gifts." " They were 
mighty and abundant in prayer." They were emi- 
nently men of God, and undershepherds of the flocks 
committed to their charge. 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 23 

The men immediately associated with Mr. Win- 
throp in the settlement of the Pequot Colony are, 
some of them, worthy of special notice. The first town 
clerk was Jonathan Brewster, who came to New 
London before 1650. He was a son of Elder Wil- 
liam Brewster, of the Mayflower. He appears as 
tl Clarke of the Town of Peqnett ,J in September, 1649. 
February 25 of that year he was one of four who 
were chosen "townsmen," or selectmen. In 1650 he 
was made a freeman of Connecticut with Mr. Win- 
throp, and in September of that year he appeared at 
the General Court as one of the first deputies from 
Pequot. He was one of four who were always enti- 
tled Mr. when spoken of in connection with the plan- 
tation. He was evidently a prominent man, and took 
a leading part in the affairs of the new settlement. 
Of his staunch Puritanism there can be no question. 
He died in 1661. 

Another prominent man, who appeared still earlier 
upon the scene and who lived to a later date, was 
Thomas Miner. He came to New England with John 
"Winthrop, the elder, in the Arabella, in 1630. He 
first settled in Boston, and then in Hingham. From 
there he came to New London in 1645, and was one 
of the advance party who broke ground here in that 
year. In 1647 he was appointed "to act in all Town 
affaires " in the capacity of selectman. This election 



24 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

was repeated the following year. In his diary are a 
good many entries showing that he was engaged in 
the transaction of the town's business. In 1649 he 
' ' was appointed ' Military Sergeant in the Towne of 
Pequitt,' with power to call forth and train the inhab- 
itants." In 1650 he appeared with Jonathan Brew- 
ster as one of the first deputies to the General Court 
from the new Colony. He was a member of the First 
Church of Christ. In 1674 he united with others to 
form the first Church in Stonington, and was one of 
its first deacons. He was prominent in founding both 
New London and Stonington. His son John moved 
to Woodbury and became the founder of a family. 
His son Clement lived in New London and was deacon 
of the Church. He was a man of strong character and 
of pronounced religious convictions. His diary records 
repeated instances of attendance upon the ordinances 
of the gospel. He died October 23, 1690, aged 83. 
Robert Hempstead, Carie Latham, Thomas Stanton 
and others were associated with Winthrop in the found- 
ing of the town. They were religious men, they 
were, most, if not all of them Church members, and 
they were of the Puritan faith. Thomas Stanton 
was, with Thomas Miner, an original member of the 
first Church in Stonington, and was prominent in its 
affairs till he died in 1678. Puritanism left its mark 
upon the foundations of the town. 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 25 

Another contemporary of John Winthrop, Jr., who 
was associated with him in giving character to the- 
town, and who was a Puritan, was Richard Blinman, 
the first pastor of the Church, and of the town. 
When he was driven from his living in England, he 
came to Marsh field, and fifty or more persons fol- 
lowed him for the sake of their religious convictions. 
The same people followed him to Gloucester in 1642, 
and to New London in 1650. They were Puritans. 
They constituted the Church, which was thus an 
organized embodiment of their Puritan principles. 
They at once became prominent in the affairs of the 
town, both at Gloucester and in New London, and 
stamped their character on the institutions which they 
planted. 

Some of the men who came to New London be- 
cause Mr. Blinman came may be named as examples 
of the whole. Robert Park, and his son Thomas, 
came to New England about 1635 or 1636. They 
seem to have settled in Watertown, Mass., whence 
they emigrated to Wethersfield. They came to New 
London in 1649 or 1650, probably because' Mr. Blin- 
man, Thomas Park's brother-in-law, was coming. 

The leading man who followed Mr. Blinman from 
Chepstowe was Obadiah Bruen. He was town clerk 
in Gloucester, and in Pequot till he removed to New 
Jersey in 1667. He was a member of this Church, 



26 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

and of the Puritan faith. Miss Caulkins says of 
him, u during the sixteen years in which Mr. Bruen 
dwelt in the young plantation, he was perhaps more 
intimately identified with its public concerns than any 
other man. He was chosen a townsman for fifteen 
years in succession, and except the first year, uni- 
formly first townsman and moderator." He was on 
all committees, was recorder of the town, and clerk 
of the court. His was the only name in New Lon- 
don on the Charter of Charles II. "He appears 
to have been a persevering, plodding, able and discreet 
man," who did a great deal, helped everybody, and 
left, everything better for his management. 

James Avery seems to have come to New London 
with Mr. Blinman. He was a member of this Church. 
He was a man of prominence and influence. He 
founded a large family which bears his name. He 
was chosen townsman for twenty-three years, and 
represented the town in the General Court twelve 
times . He lived on Poquonnock Plain in the old Avery 
homestead recently destroyed by fire, till he died 
about 1694. 

Capt. George Denison was prominent in all the 
affairs of the Colony after his arrival in 1651. He 
also was a member of this Church. He came to 
America with his father, William Denison, in 
The Lyon, with John Elliot of Roxbury. In 1654 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 27 

he moved to the east side of the Mystic River, and was 
interested in the founding of Stonington and its first 
Church. He was a Puritan. Although he had fre- 
quent disputes with his neighbors, and had difficulty 
with his minister, as will appear, yet he was a strong 
man of very decided opinions. 

John Coit was of Mr. Blinman's company who 
came from Gloucester. He followed his pastor from 
Wales. He was of the Puritan faith. He was 
prominent in the affairs of. the town. He also 
founded a family which still bears his name. He was 
a member of this Church. His son, Joseph, became 
a deacon of it, and the ancestor of all the Coits in 
Connecticut, and perhaps in the United States. 

Andrew Lester is another member of the Blinman 
company, who was a member of the Church, and 
whose family name survives him. Such were the 
men who were the founders of the town and the 
Church. They were Puritans. Many of them had 
been driven out of England by religious persecutions. 
They were men of strong convictions j else they 
would not have chosen expatriation rather than sur- 
render their beliefs. Whether we agree with them or 
not, we must applaud their heroism j for the men who 
are willing to suffer for the sake of what they believe 
to be a fundamental principle of civil and of religious 
liberty, are worthy of all praise. If their notions of 



28 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

religious liberty are less latitudinarian than some of 
today, we must remember the times in which they 
lived, and the school of religious toleration in which 
they were trained. Even then we may well ask if a 
little less latitude is not to be desired. At any rate 
it is pretty difficult for a candid mind to sneer at 
these men. 

They were pretty severe sometimes ; quite as severe 
on themselves as on any one else. For example, Na- 
thaniel Mather wrote in his diary : "Of all the mani- 
fold sins which then (in childhood) I was guilty of, 
none so sticks upon me as that, being very young, I 
was whittling on the Sabbath day. ' ' Another records 
that i l he lived in prayer thrice a day and ' did not 
slabber over his prayers with hasty amputations, but 
wrestled in them for a good part of an hour • ' " that 
he " chewed much on excellent sermons," and spent 
much time over his Bible. It must be confessed that 
this sounds strange in these times. But it is to be 
remembered that the spirit of those days was conge- 
nial to such exercises and experiences. It would 
sound strange now to read records of the police court 
like these which are to be found in the early records 
of New London : ' ' Goodwif e Willey presented J ' to 
the court, "for not attending public worship, and 
bringing her children thither ; fined five shillings j ' ' 
1 ' John Lewis and Sarah Chapman presented for sit- 



PURITANISM IN NEW LONDON. 29 

ting together on the Lord's day, under an apple tree 
in Goodman Chapman's orchard," and many more 
like these. They show the sterling character of the 
men who laid here the civil, social and religious foun- 
dations of the State and of the town. Nor are in- 
stances like the above to be judged in the light of 
present public sentiment, but in the light of the pub- 
lic sentiment of those times. Those men may seem 
narrow to us, but they were fully abreast of the best 
thought of their own day. 

Thus the founders of this town and Church were 
Puritans of a most pronounced type. They protested 
against the Church of England, because it stood for 
intolerance. Hooker came to Connecticut because he 
could not endure the aristocratic notions of John Cot- 
ton, which prevailed in Massachusetts. The men who 
came to Connecticut and New London represented 
the largest liberty, as it was then understood. They 
took their stand upon the word of God. So that when 
a Colony was planted, civil and religious freedom 
were framed into its constitution. 

The founder of this town was a Puritan. The first 
minister of the Church, and most of the original 
members, who followed him from Chepstowe, by way 
of Marshfield and Gloucester, to New London, were 
Puritans. The second minister was the son of a Puri- 
tan — Rev. Peter Bulkeley, of Concord, Mass. The 



30 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

third minister was the son of a Puritan Governor of 
Massachusetts — Simon Bradstreet. The fourth min- 
ister, Gurdon Saltonstall, was of Puritan descent. 
This town and Church had their origin in Puritanism 
of no uncertain kind. 

The founders of this town and Church were not 
illiterate adventurers. They were the men of culture 
and learning of their times. We may not like their 
creed, but it was an emphatic protest against corrup- 
tion in social life, in the Church and in the State. 
They were uncompromisingly loyal to their convic- 
tions. When we put their sturdy adherence to what 
they felt ought to be, by the side of the easy way in 
which truth and duty are sometimes dealt with, we 
find it pretty difficult to laugh at Puritanism. We 
may not like their methods. We may not like the 
men. But their sincerity is above impeachment. 
The Church which they erected on the principles for 
which they sacrificed themselves, is their fitting mon- 
ument. 



III. 

ORIGIN OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST. 



It was the habit of godly men in the ancient times 
to set up an altar to God on the spot where they 
pitched their tents ; to erect a sanctuary in the place 
where they established their home. Thus Abraham 
and Jacob built an altar to the Lord at Bethel ; Moses 
built an altar to Jehovah Nissi on the field where 
Amalek was defeated by Israel ; a Tabernacle for the 
worship of God was erected in the "Wilderness. The 
Pilgrims of Plymouth brought their Church with 
them to these shores. One of their very first acts 
was to build a house for it. The Puritans who 
landed at Salem in 1628 formed a Church August 6 
of the next year. The company of Governor Win- 
throp, which landed at Charlestown in June, 1630, 
organized a Church on the 30th day of the following 
month. On the same day another group of the same 
company organized a Church at Watertown, where 
they had gone to fix their dwelling place. The cus- 
tom of those early days was either to transport the 
already organized Church, as was done by the Pil- 
grims of Plymouth in 1620, and by the company 



32 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

which settled in Dorchester June 6, 1630, or, at the 
earliest possible moment after establishing their 
homes in a given place, to organize a Church. Our 
purpose is to state reasons for believing that at the 
earliest possible moment after founding New London 
the prevailing course was pursued, and the First 
Church of Christ was planted in New London as early 
as 1651. When John Winthrop, Jr., li removed his 
family from Boston in October, 1646, * * * 
and dwelt during the first winter at Fishers Island, 77 
and finally settled them in New London in 1647, 
we may believe that he did not remove them from 
the religious privileges which were so highly prized, 
for any period longer than the necessities of the case 
required. 

As we have already seen, Rev. Thomas Peters was 
associated with Mr. Winthrop u for the better carry- 
ing on the work of said plantation. 77 It is probable 
that preaching the gospel was in the minds of the 
Massachusetts Legislature when this vote was passed. 
The Colony was small at this time. It did not receive 
any considerable accessions till the company came 
from Cape Ann, in 1650 and 1651. This may account 
for the fact that there appears to have been no Church 
organization previous to the latter year. We expect to 
show that from 1651 to the present this Church has 
existed in this town. Inasmuch as there is no record 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 33 

of the organization of a Church, either before or after 
1651, we expect to show that, as the First Church in 
Hartford emigrated with its pastor, Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, from Xewtown (now Cambridge), Mass., in 
1636, so the First Church of New London emigrated 
with its pastor, Rev. Richard Blinman, from Glouces- 
ter, Mass., in 1651. 

It is worth noticing here, as helping to establish 
this view, that Mr. Blinman, as will be seen, was 
well and favorably known to the 'Winthrops during 
his ministry in Gloucester. It seems likely that John 
Winthrop, Jr., became apprised of the fact that Mr. 
Blinman would be willing to remove from Gloucester, 
and that many of the Cape Ann planters could be 
persuaded to emigrate to parts having a more fertile 
soil, and that he held out such inducements as 
brought about such an exodus from Gloucester. For 
it is known that Cape Ann lane was opened for their 
accommodation, and was given this name in honor of 
the place from which they had removed as one of the 
inducements held out to them to come to Pequot. In 
this way Winthrop secured a large and valuable 
accession to the population of the new Colony, and 
at the same time secured a Church and its pastor. 
As a matter of fact, the people from Cape Ann were 
the majority of the Colony, and at once took a leading 
part in all its affairs. 



•34 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

The date of the earliest records of the Church is 
October 5, 1670. This was the date of Mr. Brad- 
street's ordination, as we learn from his own diary 
and that of Thomas Miner. His actual ministry- 
began four years before, in 1666. The reason why 
his ordination was delayed does not appear. But his 
four years of previous service point to an organized 
Church which he served. His ordination, October 
5, 1670, points to an organized Church, over which 
he was ordained as pastor. Because the records do 
not begin till the date of Mr. Bradstreet's ordination 
Dr. Trumbull erroneously concludes, "there seems 
to have been no Church in New London till the ordi- 
nation of Mr. Bradstreet." But we expect to show 
from the records of the Church, from the current 
expressions of the times, and from various other con- 
siderations that there was a Church before that 
date, and that it had been here at least nineteen years 
and a half when Mr. Bradstreet was settled over it as 
its pastor. 

The FIRST thing to be said is that it seems not to 
have been the custom of those early times, at least in 
New London, to keep careful records. For example, 
it was not till February 6, 1660, that the town awoke 
fully to the importance of taking measures to pre- 
serve public documents and records of its doings. 
In the next place, it is a fact that there are but 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 35 

five entries of Church action made upon the rec- 
ords of the Church between October 5, 1670, and 
1757. Further, it evidently was not Mr. Blinman's 
habit to keep records; partly, it may be, because the 
chief business of the Church was done in town meet- 
ing, and partly, perhaps, because he lacked the me- 
thodical turn of mind essential in a good recorder of 
events. We learn from contemporary sources that a 
Church was gathered in Gloucester, by Rev. Richard 
Blinman, in 1642. Thus Rev. Dr. Joseph S. Clark, 
in his Congregational Churches of Massachusetts, 
says [p. 33], "in the same year, 1642, Rev. Richard 
Blinman and several Welsh families" (Punchard 
gives the number of persons as about fifty) "who 
had recently located at Marshfield, removed to 
Gloucester, and uniting with a small colony of fisher- 
men already on the ground, were formed into a 
Church under his pastoral care. ' ' But Babson's His- 
tory of Gloucester says ' ' neither record or tradition ' ' 
of the first Church in Gloucester ' ' has handed down 
any account of its members or its early proceedings, 
nor of its history for sixty years." Then the ab- 
sence of records prior to October 5, 1670, proves 
nothing against the existence of a Church here pre- 
vious to that date. 

The SECOND thing to be borne in mind is, that the 
habits of the times, and the character of the men 



36 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

engaged in planting this town, afford the strongest 
presumption that they would not let a quarter of a 
century pass without an organized Church. These 
men, as we have seen, were Puritans. They were 
Calvinists in their belief. They became Congrega- 
tionalists in Church discipline and order on arriving 
in America. They believed in the supreme headship 
of Christ. They believed that the New Testament 
was the perfect rule, not only of faith and practice, 
but also of worship and discipline. They believed 
that Churches ought to be formed and governed after 
the pattern which they believed could be found in the 
New Testament. For this reason they were dissent- 
ers from the national establishment. They believed 
that the same principles should govern the State. 
The clergy were eminently men of God. iC As they 
had taken up the cross, forsaken their pleasant seats 
and enjoyments in their native country, and followed 
their Savior into a land not sown, for the sake of his 
holy religion, and the advancement of his Kingdom, 
they sacrificed all worldly interests to these glorious 
purposes. The people who followed them (the 
clergy) into the wilderness, were their spiritual chil- 
dren, who imbibed the same spirit and sentiments, 
and esteemed them as their fathers in Christ." 
[Trumbull, vol. i, pp. 261-2.] These were the lead- 
ing men of the Colony. They were most exemplary 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 37 

in their manner of life. The almost stern regard for 
the Sabbath, the penalties inflicted upon men and 
women for neglecting the house of God, or for dis- 
turbing public worship on the Lord's day, forbid us 
to suppose that men of such temper would allow 
themselves to settle a town without providing for 
preaching the gospel, and, as soon as circumstances 
would permit, organizing a Church upon the simple 
plan of the New Testament. As we have seen, Mr. 
Winthrop, and those associated with him, were men 
of this stamp. 

It is further to be said that Mr. Winthrop seems 
from the first to have had it in mind to erect a house 
of worship. For the high ridge, on which the 
old cemetery lies, was called Meeting House hill 
from the foundation of the town. Further, this 
ancient cemetery, which was in use the year 
before, was solemnly dedicated by vote of the town, 
June 6, 1653, to purposes of burial. The vote 
declares, "it shall ever bee for a Common Buriall 
place, and never be impropriated by any. 7; Burial 
grounds were, in those early days, Church yards. 
Then we have good reason to believe that it was in 
the mind of the founders of the town to have an 
organized Church at the earliest possible moment. 

It is further to be said, as confirming this view, 
that Mr. Peters undoubtedly came here to be the 



38 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

shepherd of the new Colony, and we have reason to 
believe that during his brief stay there were worship- 
ping assemblies to whom he ministered. These wor- 
shipping assemblies, though they were not organized 
into an ecclesiastical body, were a distinct expression 
of the purpose of the men who first settled here, to 
organize a Church as soon as it could be done. As 
we shall see, no evidence can be found that an organ- 
ized Church was on the ground till Mr. Blinman and 
his followers moved hither from Gloucester. With 
their coming the Church idea, which evidently had 
from the first been in the minds of the original set- 
tlers, found formal expression and embodiment. 
The organized Church which, as we expect to show, 
was brought to Xew London from Gloucester, took up 
into itself those disciples which it found on the ground. 
Thus the First Church was planted here as a definite 
execution of the purpose which seems all along to have 
been in the minds of TTinthrop and his associates, and 
as a formal, organic expression of fellowship in Christ. 
The third thing to be observed is, that there is no 
account of the organization of the Church, at the 
ordination of Mr. Bradstreet in 1670. Xor is any 
account of its organization at any time in Connecti- 
cut, to be found. Then we conclude that it never 
was organized in Connecticut. For by a law passed 
in March, 1658, it was declared that no persons 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 39 

within the jurisdiction of Connecticut, should organ- 
ize themselves into a Church ' ' without consent of the 
General Court, and approbation of the neighbor 
Churches." Hon. Richard A. Wheeler says, had an 
attempt been made, after the passage of said Act, 
without consulting the General Court, it "would have 
thundered its anathemas against them, and the colo- 
nial records would haye contained their proceedings 
chapter and verse. ' ' But no request for the privilege 
of forming a Church here can be found, nor are any 
anathemas recorded against any for illegal proceed- 
ings in forming a Church without permission of the 
General Court. Therefore no Church was formed 
here after 1658. Furthermore, previous to the pas- 
sage of this Act, it was customary to apply to the 
legislature, which, in those days, was a sort of stand- 
ing ecclesiastical body, for permission to be organized 
into a Church ; as appears from a vote of this body, 
in April, 1636, with reference to the organization of 
a Church at Watertown, now "Wethersfield. The 
vote reads that whereas several were dismissed from 
"Watertown, Mass., to form a Church "in this River 
of Connectecott," and the said parties have done so, 
"it is therefore in this present court ratified and con- 
firmed. ' ' If the men from Gloucester brought letters 
to be constituted into a Church here, as in the case 
of these emigrants from Watertown to Wethersfield, 



40 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

we should expect to find some record of the fact and 
an application, like theirs, to the colonial legislature, 
with a similar consenting vote of that body. But 
nothing of the kind can be found. And yet we shall 
find evidences that a Church was here as early as 
1651. That an event so important as the formation 
of a Church should be left without a scrap of notice 
seems utterly incredible ; and this is the only case, so 
far as I can find, if this Church was organized and 
no record of the event was made. But there is no 
record of the organization of a Church in Pequot at 
any time, nor is there one with which the origin of 
this Church can be connected, save that of the Church 
in Gloucester, Mass., in 1642. There is, then, but 
one conclusion, namely, that this Church was already 
organized when it came to New London, like the 
Churches at Hartford and Windsor ; that it was 
brought here from Gloucester, and that the worship- 
pers already on the ground were incorporated into it, 
and thus a Church was constituted in New London. 

We now come fourthly to consider certain evi- 
dences which seem to leave no room to doubt the 
correctness of this view. To begin with, at the time 
of his ordination Mr. Bradstreet had preached here 
over four years, and had been preceded by two 
men, one of whom had served in the office of 
pastor in New London seven years, and the other 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 41 

three years. Further, Oct. 5, 1670, Mr. Brad- 
street began to keep the records of a Church already 
in existence. For the title o£ the ancient book, writ- 
ten in the hand of Mr. Bradstreet reads, u the records 
of the Church of Christ at New London, wherein are 
the names of the Church now being October 5, 1670, 
with the names of all such as have been baptized 
and added thereto from the said 5th of October, 
1670. " The first entry upon these records reads, 
' l names of those who were of the Church of New 
London in full communion, Oct. 5, 1670." Then 
follow twenty-four names of those who comprised 
the Church on that date. They are as follows : 
"Lieut. James Avery and wife, Thomas Miner and 
wife, James Morgan, Sen., and wife, William 
Meades and wife, Mr. William Douglas and wife, 
John Smith and wife, Mr. Ralph Parker and 
wife, William Hough and wife, William Nichols, 
Robert Royce, John Prentice, Mrs. Rogers, Good- 
wife Gallup of Mystick, Goodwife Keeney, Good- 
wife Coyte, Goodwife Lewis. Mr. James Rogers 
not long after owned a member here, being a 
member in full communion in Milford Church. 7 ' Now 
it is to be noticed that this is not the record of the 
formation of a Church, but of the members who 
composed "the Church now being." Evidently 
we are to understand that these are the records, 



42 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

and these the members, of a Church already organ- 
ized when the records were commenced. This view 
is emphasized by three other facts. One is an entry 
in the ancient records which reads, "the names of 
such as were called children of the Church, viz. of 
such as had been baptized before Oct. 5, 1670, their 
parents one or both being in full communion.' 7 But 
to be "in full communion" before October 5, 1670, 
points to an organized Church before that date. The 
second fact is, that an entry in the same records 
says that Lydia Bailey and Ruth Hill, who had chil- 
dren baptized on that date, were received into the 
Church February 12, 1670, eight months previous to 
October 5, 1670. The third fact is, an entry in the 
diary of Thomas jliner, whose name appears on the 
list of those who were members October 5, 1670, under 
date of July 27, 1670, which reads as follows : "I 
and my wife were at Xew London, and Goodman 
Rice, and Goodman Hough were received into the 
Church there." Then as early as February 12 and 
July 27, 1670, there was a Church in Xew London. 

About 1652 Thomas Miner had removed to Pawca- 
tuck, but had retained his membership in New Lon- 
don. Indeed Pawcatuck was then within the limits 
of Xew London. Under date of June 30, 1669, he 
writes in his diary, u I was at Xew London and had 
testimonv from the Church for me and my wife being 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 43 

owned to be under their watch." The "testimony," 
recorded in his diary, was as follows : ' l These are 
to signify to all whome it may concerne, that we whose 
names are underwritten, being members of the Church 
of Christ at New London, do own Thomas Miner of 
Stonington, and his wife, members with us, and under 
our care and watch, and they do live, for aught we 
know or hear, as doe become Christians. James 
Avery, William Douglas. In the name and behalf 
of the Church. New London, June 30, 1669." 

Then there was a Church in New London as early 
as the date of this testimony. 

Ten years before, in 1659, in anticipation of his 
return to England, Mr. Blinman sold his house and 
lot, and his farm at the Harbor's mouth. In the 
deed he says: "I, Kichard Blinman, late pastor of 
the Church of Christ at New London." As he left 
New London the year before, about January 28, and 
went to New Haven, there was a Church here in 
1658. In May of that year Thomas Miner makes 
this record in his diary : " Satterday the 15 there is 
a Church meeting at towne." He also records the 
fact that July 8, 1655, and afterwards, the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper was administered in New Lon- 
don. But that sacrament was always administered 
to Churches, and never to towns. Further, October 
22, 1655, Thomas Z\Iiner in his diary speaks of 



44 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Thomas Park, as " deacon perke." But a deacon is 
an officer of a Church. In another entry in his diary- 
he says, " Sabath day the 28 of October [1655] 
hannah was baptized." This proves that there was 
a Church, and that Mr. Blinman was its regularly in- 
stalled pastor, administering the ordinances at that 
date. In 1654, in a written memorandum, Mr. 
Obadiah Bruen, the town clerk, speaks of Mr. Blin- 
man as "pastor of the Church of Christ at Pequot." 
A controversy arose in which Mr. Blinman became 
involved, concerning the proposed new town of 
Mystic and Pawcatuck. Sharp words passed between 
him, and Thomas Miner and Captain Denison. 
August 28, 1654, a town meeting was held at 
Pequot to consider the controversy, and adopt con- 
ciliatory measures for the adjustment of the differ- 
ences between Pequot, and Mystic and Pawcatuck. 
In the evening of the same day the Church met at 
the house of Mr. Caulkins in Pequot. Mr. Thomas 
Miner made the following record of that meeting in 
his diary : "I was sent for at Pequot for to be recon- 
ciled to the Church, and at evening the major part 
met at Goodman Caulkins' house, namely: Mr. Blin- 
man, Mr. Bruen, Goodman Morgan, Goodman Caulk- 
ins, Ralph Parker, Goodman Lester, Goodman Coit, 
Hugh Roberts, Capt. Denison, and Goodman Chese- 
borough and Thomas Miner being there. All these 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 45 

took satisfaction in my acknowledging the height of 
my spirit j secondly, in that I saw my evil in sudden 
and rash speaking to Mr. Blinman, and with all this 
was acknowledgement on the Church's part that I 
was wronged j so all was passed by on my side and 
the Church's, with promise on both parts — as that, all 
former offences should be buried, and never more to 
be agitated ; so desiring the prayers, each for the 
other, we parted from that meeting August 28, 
1654." Now it is to be noticed that this was not a 
town meeting. That had been held during the day. 
It was a meeting of persons whose names are given 
and who composed the major part of the Church, was 
held in the evening of the same day, was convened at 
the house of Goodman Caulkins, one of the members, 
and was held for the express purpose of adjusting 
differences between Mr. Blinman and Thomas Miner 
on account of hot words which the latter had spoken 
to his pastor, because the pastor had taken sides 
against setting Mystic and Pawcatuck apart from 
Pequot in a township by themselves. Then there 
was a Church in New London August 28, 1654 ; and 
prior to this date, for Mr. Miner speaks of a mutual 
adjustment of "former offences." We have thus 
come down to within less than four years of the time 
when Mr. Blinman came to New London. At every 



46 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

point we find a Church in organic existence, and ex- 
ercising all the functions of a Church. 

We have the testimony of Capt. James Avery, 
William Douglas, Thomas Miner, Obadiah Bruen, 
and the records of the Church, that there was a 
Church here prior to 1670 ; and we have the testimony 
of Obadiah Bruen, and of Mr. Blinman himself, that 
Mr. Blinman was pastor of the Church of Christ at 
Pequot prior to 1658, in January of which year he 
left his charge. We have the testimony of Thomas 
Miner that he was a member of the same Church 
prior to 1654. And if he was a member prior to this 
date, so were Mr. Bruen, and Mr. Caulkins, and Mr. 
Cheseborough, and Ralph Parker, and Mr. Coit and 
all the others concerned in that Church meeting 
August 28, 1654. If in about three years after Mr. 
Blinman came to Pequot, we find a Church organ- 
ized, and in full performance of the customary func- 
tions of a Church, it does not seem to be a violent 
inference that, when Mr. Blinman came here in 1650, 
he came as pastor of the First Church of Christ. 

It signifies nothing against this view that neither 
Mr. Blinman nor Mr. Bulkeley were ordained at Xew 
London. Mr. Blinman was already an ordained 
clergyman, having been set apart to that sacred office 
in England, and having already served as pastor of 
the Church in Gloucester, Mass., eight years. His 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 47 

case was precisely like that of Mr. Whitfield and the 
Church in Guilford. That Church was gathered June 
19, 1643, "and Mr. Whitfield, who brought with him 
from England a considerable portion of this Church 
(in Guilford), was received as pastor, without the 
formality of an ordination." [Punchard's Hist, of 
Cong., vol. iv, p. 105.] The case of Mr. Blinman is 
almost exactly parallel. He brought with him from 
England to Marshfield, and thence to Gloucester, and 
thence to New London, by far the larger part of 
those who composed the Church, and naturally as 
Mr. Whitfield was and for like reason, he was 
received as pastor without the formality of an ordi- 
nation. Mr. Bulkeley declined ordination here, and 
preached only as a supply. His ordination did not 
take place till he went to Weathersfield. 

Then we come, fifthly, to the question, Whence 
came this Church, and where was it organized? An 
answer to these questions will explain why, as Miss 
Caulkins has said, "neither the Church nor the town 
records allude to any organization." The reason of 
this silence is not far to find. The Church was not 
organized here, nor in Connecticut. For if it had 
been, there would have been some vote of the colonial 
legislature permitting its organization. But, as has 
been said, there is neither application for permission, 
nor vote granting the permission to be organized into 



48 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

a Church, to be found on the records of the colonial 
legislature. But the Church was organized some- 
where at some time. Where, if not at Gloucester, 
and when, if not in 1642, and by Richard Blinman 
and his Welsh friends who had followed him from 
England ? This is the point I hope to establish. 

In support of this view of the origin of this Church, 
and its appearance in New London, it is to be said 
that it was the custom of those times for Churches to 
emigrate. The pastor, with a majority of the mem- 
bers, constituted the Church ; and where they moved, 
it moved. Thus the first Church in Hartford was 
organized in Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass., in 
1632. The famous Thomas Hooker was its pastor. 
In 1636, as we have seen, Thomas Hooker and 
about one hundred men, women and children — 
the whole recognized Church — went from Cam- 
bridge to Hartford. For Dr. Joseph S. Clark, 
in his history of the "Congregational Churches 
of Massachusetts," says [p. 16] "the Cambridge 
Church having decided to emigrate in a body 
to Connecticut, with their ministers, Hooker and 
Stone (which they did in the summer of 1636, and 
became the founders, and First Church in Hartford), 
another company of newly arrived pilgrims stood 
ready to take their places, and were embodied on the 
first day of the preceding February, with Rev. 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 49 

Thomas Shepard for their minister. The same is 
now the 'Shepard Church' o£ that city." The 
Church at "Windsor was organized in Plymouth, Eng- 
land, March, 1630 ; was planted at Dorchester, June 
6 of the same year, and was removed to Windsor in 
1635-6. Dr. Clark says [Ibid.], " a large portion of 
the Dorchester Church having removed in a body to 
Connecticut, and planted the town and Church of 
Windsor, the residuum, joined by other newcomers, 
were organized August 23, 1636, into the present 
First Church of Dorchester, and Rev. Richard Mather 
was ordained over them the same day.' 7 Thus these 
two Connecticut Churches were transplanted from 
Massachusetts into Connecticut. October 11, 1639, 
the majority of the Church in Scituate moved to Barn- 
stable, and Scituate was left without a Church till 
another was organized. 

Exactly the same thing, it seems, took place in con- 
nection with this Church. Mr. Blinman came here in 
the autumn of 1650. Twenty or more families, about 
one hundred souls, came with him, or followed soon 
after. These composed the great majority, if not the 
entire membership, of the Church in Gloucester. 
For a contemporary says that the number gathered 
into a Church there in 1642 was about fifty. It is 
not probable that this number was very greatly 
changed during Mr. Blinman' s pastorate at Glouces- 



50 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ter. They decided to remove to New London, with 
their pastor, |in 1650-51, and came. In accordance 
with the custom of the times, they with their pastor 
being the large majority, were the Church, as in the 
case of the Churches in Cambridge and Dorchester 
and Scituate. 

It is true that there is no record that those who re- 
mained in Gloucester were gathered into another 
Church to take the place of the one removed. Nor is 
there evidence to the contrary. But first, no Church 
records of any sort were kept in Gloucester for sixty 
years, that is, not till about 1700. Secondly, the 
emigration of Mr. Blinman left those who remained 
in so feeble a state, on account of numbers and abil- 
ity, that for several years they were unable to main- 
tain preaching j and there was no stated preacher, 
and practically, no Church in Gloucester till 1661. 
There do not seem to have been people enough left, 
so inclined, to be gathered into a Church. But 
thirdly, the Church which did appear in Gloucester 
in 1661 has disappeared. 

As we have seen, there is no record that this 
Church was formed under the laws of Connecticut; 
but we find evidences of its existence here very soon 
after 1651. There is no record of its organization at 
any date save 1642. nor at any place save Gloucester, 
at which time and place it was gathered by Rev. 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. 51 

Richard Blinman of those Welshmen who had fol- 
lowed their pastor from Chepstowe, because of their 
loyalty to him and to their Puritan principles. In 
Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, which is 
an account of events which transpired in the early 
history of New England, is a narrative of the u plant- 
ing of the one and twentieth Church of Christ at a 
Town called Gloucester." The narrative is as fol- 
lows : u There was another Town and Church of 
Christ erected in the Mattachusets Government, upon 
the Northern Cape of the Bay, called Cape Ann, a 
place of fishing, being peopled with Fishermen, till 
the reverend Richard Blinman came from a place 
in Plimouth Patten, called Green Harbour, with some 
few people of his acquaintance, and settled down 
with them, named the Town Gloucester, and gath- 
ered into a Church, being but a small number, about 
fifty persons, they called to office this godly man." 
Here we have a statement of a contemporary, that the 
town and Church were constituted at the same time, 
as was the custom of those days, that the Church 
was the twenty-first in the order of formation, that 
it was originally composed of about fifty persons, 
and that Mr. Blinman was the pastor. John Win- 
throp was at that time Governor of Massachusetts, 
and he has fixed the year and month of the founding 
of this Church of Christ, and the town of Gloucester. 



52 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

For in his History of New England, [p 64] 
speaking of " Mr. Blinman, a minister in Wales, a 
godly and able man," and of his coming first to 
Green Harbor, and then to Cape Ann, he says, 
" which at this court was established to be a planta- 
tion, and called Gloucester." This was the session 
of May, 1642, the records of which confirm what 
Winthrop says. May 13 is the date of the above 
entry in his journal. But the town and the Church 
were erected at the same time, according to Johnson's 
Wonder-working Providence. Then May, 1642, is 
the date of the organization of this Church. 

Hon. Richard A. Wheeler says, [Papers of N. L. 
Hist. Soc. for 1891, p 19], Mr. Blinman's "old 
friends who had been with him at Plymouth and 
Green Harbor decided to go with him," to Pequot, 
"and share his fortunes. So they, the majority of 
the then Church of Gloucester, after disposing of 
their homesteads, followed Mr. Blinman to Pequot in 
the early spring of 1651. Mr. Blinman and Ralph 
Parker preceded them and came in the fall of 1650. 
So during the summer of 1651 Mr. Blinman, with 
his Gloucester Church friends and friends at New 
London assembled for worship at Mr. Robert Park's 
barn meeting house, 

"And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
With their hymns of lofty cheer. 

"So, beyond all controversy, when the majority 



ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH 53 

of the members of the Gloucester Church of 1642 
under their regular installed pastor in unison with 
other Church members, assembled for public worship 
in New London in 1651, taken in connection with all 
the facts, precedent and subsequent thereto relating, 
is the time when the first Church of New London was 
established there." Mr. Wheeler also says that the 
facts confirm the view ' ' that the Church organized 
in Gloucesber, Mass., in 1642, with Richard Blinman 
as its pastor, removed to and was transplanted in 
New London in 1651." 

Then this Church, in common with many of the 
historic churches of New England, is a fruit of that 
Puritanism which, from 1583 to 1660, shook Eng- 
land, in no small degree modified its social, political 
and religious life, marked the beginnings of religious 
freedom, and set in motion those movements which 
resulted in the planting of New England, and in the 
rise of this republic to a mighty nationality. 

During the twenty-two years which had elapsed 
since the landing of the Pilgrims when this Church 
was organized, thirty Churches had been planted 
in Massachusetts, according to Dr. J. S. Clark. So 
that this was the thirty-first formed in that Col- 
ony, and not the twenty-first, as Johnson's Won- 
der-working Providence says. There had also been 
six Churches formed in Connecticut. So that this is 



54 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

the thirty-seventh in New England. But several 
have become extinct, or ceased to be Congregational 
Churches, so that it stands much higher on the 
list. There are now but thirteen older Congrega- 
tional Churches in Massachusetts, and but eight in 
Connecticut. 

The nine oldest Churches in Connecticut, in the 
order of their age, are as follows: Windsor, organ- 
ized in 1630; Hartford, first, organized in 1632; 
Wethersfield, organized in 1635 ; Stamford, organ- 
ized in 1635 ; New Haven, first, organized in 1639 ; 
Milford, first, organized in 1639; Stratford, first, 
organized in 1639 ; Fairfield, organized in 1639 ; 
New London, first, organized in 1642. 

The foregoing argument seems to leave no room 
to doubt the conclusion reached. The only link lack- 
ing in the chain is a record of the fact that those who 
were left in Gloucester after the departure of Mr. 
Blinman and his company, were gathered into an- 
other Church. But this lack is offset by the entire 
absence of ecclesiastical records in Gloucester before 
1700, and by the fact that no other trace of the 
organization of this Church can be found. Certainly 
it was not gathered in Connecticut at any time before 
or after 1650-51. Else some notice of the fact would 
be found in the Colonial Records. We have, then, 
no hesitation in claiming May, 1642, as the date of 
its organization. 



IV. 

RICHARD BLINMAN'S PASTORATE. 
Mat. 1642.— January, 1658. 



We come now, in the history of the Church, to 
speak of the man who was its first pastor, and who, 
more than any other man, had a right to say, "I have 
laid the foundation. ' ' He gave it the strong and stable 
character which has belonged to it from the first. 
That Richard Blinman was a man of strong and 
marked personality is proved by the fact that he was 
able to bring with him, from Chepstowe to New Lon- 
don, by way of Marshfield and Gloucester, men of 
the stamp of Obadiah Bruen, Hugh Calkin, John 
Coit, Andrew Lester, James Avery and others like 
them. 

He was probably born in Gloucester, England, 
early in the seventeenth, if not at the close of the 
sixteenth, century. We know that he died in Bris- 
tol, England, not far from 1683. He evidently came 
to this country in 1640. For in the records of the 
Plymouth Colony it appears that March 2, 1640, he, 
with Mr. Obadiah Bruen and others, was proposed 



56 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

for the rights of freemen. Further, a letter from 
Edward "Winslow to Governor TTinthrop, of Boston, 
dated "Careswell, this 10th of Sth. 16W ; says, 
"Mr. Blindman salntes you." In another letter, 
dated December 2S of the same year. Mr. Winslow 
writes, " and the more in regard of Mr. Blindman's 
friends that are come to live with us. and the straight - 
ness of the place to receive them." It seems settled 
then that he came to America early in 1640. 

Mr. Blinman had been a curate in Chepstowe. 
Monmouthshire. England. Under Charles I. Arch- 
bishop Laud had virtually become first minister of the 
crown. His measures, as we have seen, were sum- 
mary with the Puritans. TVith reckless and unscru- 
pulous severity he drove Puritan ministers from 
English pulpits. As his hands grew heavier, the 
number of Puritan fugitives to Xew England in- 
creased. And it must be admitted that the impover- 
ishment of Old England was the enrichment of Xew 
England. 

Among the Puritan clergy, whose non-conformity 
had hitherto been winked at. but who were driven 
from their livings because they refused to wear the 
surplice, aud make the sign of the cross, was Richard 
Blinman. Nothing was left for him but to join the 
Separatists, aud become a Congregationalist. 

He was invited to Marshfield bv Mr. Edward 



blinman's pastorate. 57 

Winslow, who founded the Church in that place as 
early as 1639 or '40, says one authority, [Punchard's 
Hist. Conglsm., vol. iv, p. 263], 1632, says another. 
[Clark's Congregational Churches of Mass., p. 15]. 
In the records of the Plymouth Colony occurs the fol- 
lowing, ' ' this Church of Marshfield was begun, and 
afterward carried on by the help and assistance, un- 
der God, of Mr. Edward Winslow, who at the first 
procured several Welsh gentlemen of good note 
thither, with Mr. Blinman, a godly, able minister." 
Baylies' History of New Plymouth says, " Governor 
Winslow, the founder of Marshfield, often visited 
England ; he induced several Welsh gentlemen of 
respectability to emigrate to America, amongst whom 
came the Rev. Richard Blinman, in 1642, who was 
the first pastor of the Church in Marshfield. ' ' Baylies 
is wrong in his dates. For Mr. Blinman was in Ply- 
mouth as early as March 2, 1640. The facts are that 
he came to America in 1640, at the solicitation of 
Edward Winslow, and that he was minister of the 
Church at Marshfield in 1642, the year in which he 
removed to Gloucester. Nor was he probably the 
first pastor of the Church. One Nehemiah Smyth 
seems to have been in charge before Mr. Blinman. 
For the Plymouth Colonial Records state that on March 
3, 1639-40, there was granted "to Mr. Edward 
Winslow and the rest of the neighborhood of Green's 



58 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Harbor, a competent piece of upland and meadow 
for a farm for a minister ; and one other competent 
portion of land near unto said lot, for the minister ; 
either for Nehemiah Smyth, or some other, as the in- 
habitants of Green's Harbor shall place in." [Pun- 
chard's Hist. Conglsm., vol. iv, p. 263.] 

It is not likely that Mr. Blinman was ever formally 
settled over the Marshfield Church, nor did he re- 
main long in charge of its pulpit, for we find him 
in Gloucester, May 2, 1642. Lechford's Plaine Deal- 
ing, contemporary with Mr. Blinman, says: "Mr. 
Wilson [of Boston] did lately ride to Green Harbor 
in Plymouth Patent, to appease a broil between one 
Master Thomas, as I take it his name is, and Master 
Blinman when Master Blinman went by the worst." 
[Mass. Hist. Coll., 3 series, vol. iii, p. 106.] The 
difficulties referred to seem to have related chiefly to 
the importance of an educated ministry, and to the 
question how far lay brethren should be allowed to 
exercise their gifts. Edward Winslow had been ar- 
raigned before Archbishop Laud to answer to the 
charge of preaching while he was a layman. The 
spirit of the founder of Marshfield seems to have been 
abroad there. In the collections of the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society [vol. ix, p. 39, first series] 
occurs the following, which seems to refer to this con- 
troversy : ' ' About the same time several ministers 



blinman' s pastokate. 59 

came over to America, some with high raised expecta- 
tions that the country was better cultivated than 
they found it, and that they could live here in as easy 
circumstances as among European settlements. They 
found themselves deceived. * * * Mr. Blinman, 
a gentleman from "Wales, and a preacher of the gos- 
pel, was one who expected to find a welcome recep- 
tion. Being invited to Green's Harbor, near Ply- 
mouth, he and his friends meant there to settle, but 
the influence of a few gifted brethren made learning 
or prudence of little avail. They compared him to 
'a piece of new cloth in an old garment,' and 
thought that they could do better without patching. 
The old and new planters, to speak a more modern 
style, could not agree and parted." This controversy 
leaves no room to doubt that Mr. Blinman was an 
educated man, probably trained to the ministry in one 
of the English schools. It is clear, too, that he left 
the pulpit in Marshfield, because the pews wanted to 
get into it. The year of his assuming the pulpit in 
Marshfield, 1642, was the year of his relinquishing it, 
and of his departure for Gloucester. For Governor 
Winthrop, of Boston, says in his diary, "One Mr. 
Blinman, a minister in Wales, a godly and able man, 
came over with some friends of his, and being invited 
to Green's Harbor, near Plymouth, they went, but 
«re the year was expired there fell out some differ- 



60 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ence among them which could by no means be recon- 
ciled, so they agreed to part, and he came with his 
company and sat down at Cape Ann, which at this 
court [May, 1642, J was established to be a plantation, 
and called Gloucester." A note in the Mather papers 
says that the town was called Gloucester after the 
city and shire in England where some of Mr. Blin- 
man's companions (and it may be Mr. Blinman him- 
self) were born. The ability and godliness of Mr. 
Blinman' s character are thus witnessed to by Gov- 
ernor Winthrop ; and that he was a man of peace is 
proved by his leaving Marshfield rather than abide in 
a controversy. Before we are through with his life, 
we shall find other instances in which he exhibited 
the same irenic qualities. It is also to be remembered, 
as testifying to his worth and excellence, that those 
who had followed him from England, who had been 
with him in the persecutions which drove him from 
it, and who had witnessed his bearing through all that 
he endured for the sake of the gospel, followed him 
from Marshfield to Gloucester. 

Then in 1642 Mr. Blinman, with his Welsh friends 
settled in Gloucester, Mass. They, with a few fish- 
ermen already on the ground, were gathered into a 
Church, with Mr. Blinman as their pastor, as we have 
found. An item in Johnson's Wonder-working Prov- 
idence, speaking of the formation of the Church, says 



blinman's pastorate. 61 

that "they called to office this godly reverend man, 
whose gifts and ability to handle the Word is not 
inferior to many others, laboring much against the 
errors of the times, of a sweet, humble, heavenly 
carriage," [Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d series, vol. vii, 
p. 32. J This is contemporary testimony to the 
worth, ability and godliness of character of the first 
pastor of this Church. 

Several of Mr. Blinman's friends were elected, 
May 2, 1642, to manage affairs in the new planta- 
tion of Gloucester. Among them were Mr. Obadiah 
Bruen, who was chosen town recorder, and held the 
office till he removed to New London; Mr. William 
Addes, who came to Pequot about 1659, "when he 
was allowed to brew beer and distil for the benefit of 
the town;" Walter Tybbot, who had followed Mr. 
Blinman from England, and five others. These men 
were appointed magistrates by the commissioners of 
the General Court, who were Mr. Endicott, the deputy 
governor, Mr. Emmanuel Downing, uncle of John 
Winthrop, Jr., and Mr. Hathorne, from Salem. 

This Mr. Downing had been a lawyer of the Inner 
Temple in London, and had come to New England in 
1638. He had married Lucy, the sister of Governor 
Winthrop, of Boston. February 23, 1650, Lucy 
Downing wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., her nephew, 
who was then at Pequot, sending her "service" to 



62 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Mr. Blitiman. December 24, 1650, Mr. Downing 
wrote to the same John Winthrop, Jr., speaking in a 
similar way of Mr. Blinman. Early in November, 
1650, Mr. Blinman ? s name is mentioned in the rec- 
ords of a town meeting in Pequot. Miss Canlkins 
speaks o£ this as the first notice of his arrival in New 
London. But October 19, 1650, there was voted a 
grant of land to him and several others who were of 
the Cape Ann Colony. It seems then that early in 
1650, Mr. Blinman was in New London, probably 
to consider a proposition to remove from Glouces- 
ter. Mr. Obadiah Bruen seems to have accom- 
panied him on his first visit. In view of his final 
decision to accept the invitation, the town, in Octo- 
ber, voted to him, and several others who were to come 
with him, grants of land, mostly on what is now Gran- 
ite street where was Mr. Blinman 7 s house lot, and on 
what was then known as ■ ' New street, but to which 
afterwards they gave the name Cape Ann lane — 
an historic appellation which has significance as con- 
nected with the history of New London. 

As to the reasons for his leaving Gloucester, the 
history of that town says ' ' unhappy dissensions drove 
Mr. Blinman from the scene of his first ministry in 
New England [Marshfield], and the ill treatment he 
received from some of his people here [Gloucester] 
may have hastened, if it did not induce, his departure 



blinman's pastorate. 63 

from the town. His Church was defamed ; his pub- 
lic meetings were disturbed; and he himself was 
scoffingly spoken of for what he had formerly deliv- 
ered in the way of the ministry." One of these dis- 
turbers was arrested and fined fifty shillings at court, 
August 27, 1644. He probably received this treat- 
ment in return for ' ' laboring much against the errors 
of the times." Too plain preaching was not any 
more acceptable to those who needed it then than it 
is now. Lechford's Plaine Dealing, which gives the 
contemporary "newes of New England," speaking 
of Mr. Blinman's coming to this Colony, asks, "Was 
not Master K. sent away, or compounded with, to 
seek a new place at Long Island * * * and 
Master Bleindman to Conneeticot?" 

The original contract with Mr. Blinman, if it ever 
had an existence, is lost. But from subsequent ref- 
erences it appears that a committee was sent to 
Gloucester, by the town, to confer with him, and that 
they pledged him liberal donations of land, with a 
salary of £60 a year, which was to be increased " as 
the ability of the town increased." The donations 
of land were liberally made. He owned a farm at 
the Harbor's Mouth, which he sold, on removing 
from town, to John Tinker; he had grants of land on 
"the General Neck, and at Upper Mamacock," 
which he sold to James Rogers ; he had farms at Pine 



64 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Neck and Fort Hill, which were unsold when he left 
the country; he also had a large grant of land in 
Mystic; there were also other grants made, so that 
this part of the town's agreement was executed in a 
most liberal manner. 

It will be interesting to note here that, quite fre- 
quently, the colonial parson was a farmer as well 
as a preacher, and thus added to his income which 
was often somewhat limited. Some of those early 
divines were model agriculturists. In old England 
the clergyman rented his lands, but the New Eng- 
land parson derived income from his by cultivat- 
ing them. Sometimes the revenue was quite con- 
siderable, and added materially to his means of sup- 
port. Mr. Child says, u one faithful parson was 
severely handled by his people because he made some 
eight hundred dollars by selling produce from his 
land." The liberal allotments of land voted to Mr. 
Blinman were in keeping with the customs of those 
early times. How extensively Mr. Blinman culti- 
vated his numerous acres we do not know. 

December 20, 1650, a house lot of six acres was 
confirmed to him on Meeting House Hill, u three 
acres whereof," says the record, " were given by the 
town's agents, as appears in the articles, and the 
other three by a public town meeting." This lot was 
bounded by the town's Antientest Buriall Place on 



blinman 's pastorate. 65 

the east, by Williams street on the west, and by- 
Granite street on the south. The northern boundary 
ran so as to include six acres. In addition to these 
grants of land, and the £60 annual stipend, the town, 
as appears from various records, built a house for 
him on the lot just described. On what part of this 
lot the house stood is not known, but a reasonable 
supposition would seem to be that it was not far 
from the dwelling of the late William H. Barns. The 
conjecture of Miss Caulkins that it stood opposite the 
lot of Richard Post, on Post Hill does not seem cor- 
rect, for that would place it north of the north line 
of the six acres granted to Mr. Blinman on Meeting 
House Hill. "He had another lot in the lower part 
of the town near the cove, where Blinman street per- 
petuates his name." In 1653 he removed to this 
lot. His house stood where the old bridge crossed 
the cove. [Miss Caulkins.] It is supposed that he 
lived here during the remainder of his residence in 
New London. 

We may pause a moment to note that when Mr. 
Blinman came here, he was not only followed by 
his friends, but was in a measure surrounded by them. 
On the east was the lot of Obadiah Bruen, lying be- 
tween the town square, or Meeting House Green, as 
it was then called, and Broad street, east of Hemp- 
stead street. On the corner of Hempstead and Gran- 



66 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ite streets was the residence o£ Robert Park, whose 
son Thomas married the sister of Mrs. Blinman. Not 
far away, across Truman brook, were settled several 
other families who had shared the fortunes of their 
pastor since he had been driven from his parish in 
Chepstowe. He was settled among his friends, and 
lived near to the spot whereon was to stand the meet- 
ing house. 

The History of Gloucester gives the names of 
some of the chief people who came with Mr. Blin- 
man. "The emigrants to New London were Chris- 
topher Avery, James Avery, "William Addes, William 
Kenie, Andrew Lister, William Meades, Ralph Par- 
ker, William Wellman, Obadiah Bruen, Hugh Caulk- 
in, John Coit, Sen., and William Hough." [p. 52.] 
These men, who had been prominent in town and in 
Church in Gloucester, took leading places in the 
Pequot Colony. They were farmers and mechanics. 
To quote Miss Caulkins, " On that billowy mass of 
rocks, that promontory so singularly bold in position 
and outline (Cape Ann) , and so picturesque in appear- 
ance, they fixed their second encampment in this new 
world." They hoped here, in the Pequot Colony, to 
find a less sterile soil. " It was certainly an object 
for the faithful pastor and his tried friends to keep 
together, and as Pequot was without a minister, and 
casting about to obtain one, the arrangement was an 



67 

agreeable one on both sides." Not only the twenty 
families which came with, or soon after Mr. Blinman, 
but also those which followed still later, helped to 
swell the population of the Colony to over forty 
families. [Trumbull.] Early in 1651, as we have 
seen, a street was opened for them "in the rear 
of the town," which came to be known as Cape Ann 
lane. It was designated as "beyond the brook, and 
the ministry lot." The brook still runs into the sea. 
Meeting House Hill is where it was when the First 
Church, and its minister's house stood on it. The 
street which once bore the historic name Cape Ann 
lane, still winds its way at the foot of the rolling 
ground beyond. The Church remains of which Rich- 
ard Blinman was the first pastor. The ancient ceme- 
tery is where it was when he committed the sainted 
dead to their last rest, ' ' earth to earth, ashes to ashes, 
dust to dust." 

Not much is known about the ministry of Mr. Blin- 
man in New London. It continued here about seven 
years, and ended because he ended it. He seems 
to have been a man of kind disposition, as is shown 
by the correspondence which he kept up with the 
friends, whom he left behind. February 25, 1653, 
this minute was entered on the town records : ' l For- 
asmuch as the town was ingaged to Mr. Blynman 
for a set stypend and soe to increase it yeerly Mr. 



68 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Blynman is freely willing to free the towne hence- 
forward from that ingadgement." This is among 
the proofs that he was actuated by no mercenary 
spirit. 

At a meeting of the town, September 20, 1651, two 
or three items of business were ' ' to propound the 
bying of Mr. Park's barn," which, as will be seen, 
was used for a meeting house; "a rate for Mr. 
Blynman' s half yeer;" "speak about new drum," to 
call people together for divine service. In October 
of that year, the question of a new meeting house 
was before the town, for one of the items of business 
was " a rate for the new meeting house," which had 
been decided upon already. 

When Mr. Blinman came, in 1650, there was a 
Meeting House Hill, but there was no meeting house 
on it. During the first years of his ministry he 
preached in the barn meeting house, which stood on 
the spot now occupied by the residence of the late 
Mr. George E. Whittlesey. It belonged to Robert 
Park. August 29, 1651, the following vote of the 
town is recorded: u For Mr. Parke's barne the 
Towne doe agree for the use of it until mid-summer 
next, to give him a day's work a peace for a meeting 
house, to be redy by the Saboth come amoneth." 
1 ' Mem. Mr. Parke is willing to accept of 3 1. " From 
this vote it appears that worship began in the barn 



blinman's pastorate. 69 

meeting house October 1, 1651. It is probable that 
previous to this, divine service was held in some private 
dwelling, as was often done in those early days. 

In 1652 Mr. Park sold his house lot to Mr. Wil- 
liam Rogers, from Boston. June 30 of that year is 
a record of an agreement on the part of the town with 
Mr. Rogers for the use of the barn for purposes of 
worship, for two years from date, at the same rate j 
that is, lt for the summe of 3 1. per annum." If the 
town ' l build a leantoo, he is to allow for it in the rent, 
and if it come to more he is to allow it, and for floor- 
ing and what charges the town is at, he is willing to 
allow when the time is expired." The town contin- 
ued to worship in the barn meetinghouse till 1655. 
The sequel to the story of this unique house of 
worship was that, in 1672-3, the town was 
called upon to pay rent in arrears, which the 
heirs of William Rogers declared had never 
been paid. February 27, 1672-3, the town 
voted "upon demand made by Hugh Caulkin," 
who had meanwhile removed to Norwich, who had 
been the town's surety for payment of the rent seven- 
teen years before, and upon whom the heirs had 
served a writ for £3 10s. "for money due to Mr. 
Leake, of Boston, for improvement of a barn of 
Goodman Rogers, which said Caulkins stood engaged 
for to pay, this town doth promise to pay one barrel 



70 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

of pork some time next winter. ' ' "Whether the prom- 
ise was kept we are not told. It is to be presumed, 
however, that it was, and that the rent of the first 
place of worship, occupied by this Church, was dis- 
charged by a commodity which a Jew would have 
declined to receive. 

The first public action looking toward the erection 
of a meeting house for public worship seems to have 
been taken August 29, 1651, when the following 
entry was made on the town records: "Goodman 
Elderkin doth undertake to build a meeting house 
about the same demention of Mr. Parke's his barne, 
and clapboard it for the sume of eight pounds, pro- 
vided the towne cary the tymber to the place and find 
nales. And for his pay he requires a cow and 50s. 
inpeage," or toll. A further vote is recorded De- 
cember 16, 1652, levying a rate of £14 to build a 
new meeting house, and fixing upon the site. Mr. 
Bruen made the following entry upon the town's rec- 
ords : ' ' The place for the new meeting house was 
concluded on by the meeting to be in the highwaie, 
taking a corner of my lot to supply the highwaie." 
This was the area now known as Bulkeley Place. 
Captain Denison and Lieutenant Smith were the 
building committee. As they were discharged in 
February, 1655, it seems probable that the new 
meeting house was completed about that time. It 



ir< 

oild have 






clapboard 

id find 

ie requires a cow and 50s. 
De- 






lace. 

• the 

arged in 

It 



5" m 

as 

= m 



5* <1 




71 

must have stood contiguous to the old burial ground T 
on the south side of it. Its tower was doubtless the 
lookout for the town watchman. "From the gallery 
windows the eye commanded a fine expanse of coun- 
try, and could mark every sail that went up or down 
the Sound." The ground was high, and the church 
tower commanded a wide outlook. 

No Sabbath bell announced the hour of divine 
service in those early days. People were summoned 
to public worship by the beat of a drum. March 22, 
1651-2, this vote is recorded: "The towne have 
agreed with Peter Blatchford to beat the drum all 
Saboth dayes, training dayes, and town publique 
meetings for the sum of 3 lb., to be paid him in a 
towne rate." He continued to exercise these func- 
tions for several years, and the hosts of the Lord were 
rallied by drumbeat on the Lord's day, till about 
1675, when mention of such service ceases. The 
religion of those days — as, indeed, it is of all days — 
was more or less a conflict. I do not think that it 
was ever true of the founders of New London, if it 
was of any of the early Puritans, that "they first fell 
on their knees, and then upon the aborigines. ' ; But it 
often happened, in those primitive days, that men 
were obliged to go to church armed, for fear of sur- 
prise by the aborigines. Near by the barn meeting 
house, on still higher ground, probably on the spot 



72 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

now occupied by the residence o£ Captain James F. 
Smith, in the days before the meeting house, was 
stationed the watch, to give alarm if enemies should 
appear. The beat of the drum, therefore, was not an 
inapt method of calling the people together to attend 
public worship, as their life was a conflict with foes 
without as well as with foes within. 

The lot north of the meeting house was first used 
for burial in 1652, but was set apart for such pur- 
poses June 6, 1653, by vote of the town. This vote 
has never been rescinded. It is one of the oldest ceme- 
teries in New England, and is rich in historic associa- 
tions, and rich in the men and women whose dust 
reposes in it, who had to do with the founding of the 
town, who were great in their day and generation, 
and whose hands helped to lay the foundations, build 
the superstructure, and defend it; colonial and rev- 
olutionary heroes, who shed their blood for their 
country. 

March 26, 1655, soon after the probable completion 
of the new meeting house, "Goodman Chapman" 
was "chosen to be grave-maker for the town," and 
it was agreed that he should "have 4s. for men and 
women's graves, and for all children's graves 3s. for 
every grave he makes." "February 25, 1661-2," 
the records read, " old Goodman Cumstock is chosen 
sexton, whose work is to order youth in the meeting 



73 

house ? 1 (that is, act as tithingman) , ' ' sweep the meet- 
ing house, and beat out dogs, for which he is to 
receive 40s. a year; he is also to make all graves; 
for a man or a woman he is to have 4s., for children 
2s. a grave, to be paid by survivors." "From 
which enumeration of his powers," says Hon. Augus- 
tus Brandegee, "it may fairly be inferred that in the 
early days men and women were upon the same level, 
youth were as mischievous, and dogs as much a nui- 
sance as in these modern times. 7 ' And it may also 
be added that it was thoughtful on the part of the 
town to lay the expense of burial upon the survivors 
rather than upon the dead. 

Mr. Blinman preached about three years and a half 
in the barn meeting house, and then about three 
years in the first house built expressly for public wor- 
ship in New London. This house was occupied as a 
place of worship till about 1682. [Caulkins, p. 192.] 
This first, or Blinman, meeting house was purchased 
by James Avery in 1684, and was moved to Poquon- 
nock Plain, where he added it to the house which he 
had built in 1656. It stood till July 20, 1894, when 
it was destroyed by fire. It was occupied by the 
descendants of James Avery till the day it was 
burned, and the occupant at that time was James D. 
Avery. 



74 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Eev. John Avery, recently pastor of the Church in 
Ledyard. a descendant o£ James Avery, says "the 
old Avery mansion at Poquonnock was built by Cap- 
tain James Avery in 1656. The old Blinman church 
edifice in Xew London was sold in June. 1684. to 
Captain James Avery, with the condition that he 
should remove it in one month's time. This he did. 
and added it to his house at Poquonnock. A hundred 
years later the house was occupied by Elder Park 
Avery, a Separate minister, a great-grandson of Cap- 
tain James Avery. Eider Park Avery had a large 
room fitted up in the house for public worship, and 
there he and the Church which he gathered held 
public service for a great many years. ' ' This probably 
was the last use of the old Blinman meeting house 
for public worship. 

Mr. Blinman' s pastorate in New London seems to 
have been acceptable and harmonious, save the mis- 
understanding with Thomas Miner and Captain Den- 
ison. of which particulars will be given. Dr. Field 
says "it is not known for what reason he was dis- 
missed from his charge in this place. There is no 
evidence that there was any dissatisfaction with his 
ministration. On the contrary he seems to have been 
highly esteemed, and very successful in his work." 
[Bi-Centennial Address, p. 10.] He was clearly a 
man of great force of character. That he was a fear- 



BUSMAN'S PASTORATE. 75 

less preacher is proved by the opposition which his 
preaching provoked, and by the fact, testified to by 
a contemporary, that he labored "much against the 
errors of the times. " He was held in high esteem 
by the eminent men of his day — men like John "Win- 
throp, Emmanuel Downing, and Increase Mather. 

During his ministry here he was sent by the Gen- 
eral Court, with others, to represent the Colony in 
the discussion of certain grave questions, at a con- 
vention held in Boston. The vote of the General 
Court, passed February 26. 1657, was as follows: 
"This Court doth order that Mr. Warham [of Wind- 
sor], Mr. Stone [of Hartford], Mr. Blinman [of Xew 
London], and Mr. Eussell [of Weathersfield] bee 
desired to meet the first fifth day of June next at 
Boston, to confer and debate the questions formerly 
sent to the Bay Court, or any other of the like nature 
that shall be propounded to them by that Court or 
our own, with such divines as shall be sent to said 
meeting from the other Colonies." The questions 
to be debated, and concerning which Connecticut 
had asked the advice of the other Colonies, were the- 
ological, and related chiefly to the practice of baptism 
under the Half-way Covenant, as it was known, which 
had begun to be practiced at Hartford, after the 
death of Mr. Hooker. A strong party had grown up 
in the Colony, who were disposed to grant certain 



76 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Church privileges to persons of exemplary deport- 
ment, without requiring them to give evidence of 
a change of heart. This came to be known as the 
"Parish Way," which was old in the old country, 
but new in the new. Differences of opinion upon 
these questions grew so marked and decided, that the 
peace of the Churches was threatened. Their spir- 
itual life declined. Grievances were presented to the 
General Court. This body sought the advice of 
ihe other Colonies. Massachusetts joined in the 
request. Seventeen questions were proposed; Dr. 
Bacon says twenty-one, and Dr. Dunning twenty- 
four. June 4, 1657, the Council met in Boston. 
How Mr. Blinman stood upon these questions we have 
no positive means of knowing. One of his associates, 
Mr. Stone, of Hartford, favored and practiced the 
Half-way Covenant. Mr. Russell and Mr. Warham 
.did not. There are reasons for believing that Mr. 
Blinman did not. But the point which I desire to 
emphasize is, that his choice by the legislature to 
represent the Churches of the Colony upon matters 
so vitally touching their life, testifies to his ability, 
and to the prominent place which he held among the 
ministers of Connecticut and of New England. 

He always avoided controversy and strove to pro- 
mote peace. It is said that he once tore up a writ 
which had been taken out against another person, in 



blinman's pastorate. 77 

order to stop proceedings, so that the matter might 
be privately settled. When arraigned before the 
Court he acknowledged the offence, and, because he 
did not tear up the writ in contempt of authority, he 
was let off with the admonition ' ' to beware of like 
rash carridge for time to come." Aside from 
Marshfield and Gloucester, "he appears to have 
worked undisturbed in the other fields of labor, and 
to have lived in peaceful and harmonious relations 
with all." The following lines, written while he was 
still in Gloucester, give a contemporary's estimate of 
his character : 

Thou hast thy prime and middle age here spent : 

The best is not too good for him that gave it. 
When thou did'st first this wilderness frequent, 

For Sion's sake it was, that Christ might save it. 
Blindman be blith in him, who thee hath taken 

To feed his flock, a few poor scattered sheep. 
Why should they be of thee at all forsaken ? 

Thy honor's high, that any thou may'st keep. 
Wait patiently thy master's coming : thou 

Hast hitherto his people's portion dealt. 
It matters not for high preferment : now 

Thy crown's to come, with joyes immortal felt. 

If these lines are read in view of his contemplated 
departure from Gloucester, they shed a pleasant light 
upon the worthy character of the first pastor of this 
venerable Church. 

As late as 1657 the parish of the first Church 
comprised the whole territory from Nahantick on the 



78 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

east to Nahantiek on the west. Till that year the 
minister's rates were levied over that whole tract. 
Mr. Blinman was accustomed to hold occasional serv- 
ices in Mystic ard Pawcatuck, for the benefit of his 
parishioners in these remote districts. He owned a 
considerable tract of land at Mystic. It was in this 
-connection that the only trouble arose which in the 
least disturbed the harmony of his pastorate here. 
Hon. Richard A. Wheeler says [Centennial celebra- 
tion of First Church, Stonington] " up to 1654-5 the 
planters here attended meeting at New London when 
the weather permitted, and paid their rates for the 
support of the ministry there ; but the distance was 
so great, with two rivers to pass in going and com- 
ing, that they were anxious to have public religious 
worship established among themselves." To do this 
they were obliged to obtain a grant for a new town 
from the General Court. This was opposed by those 
who lived west of Mystic River. At first Mr. Blin- 
man favored the project, but afterwards opposed it. 
Hot words passed between him and Thomas Miner 
and Captain Denison. They accused him of playing 
a double part. Captain Denison said "that Mr. 
Blinman did preach for Pawcatuck and Mystic being 
a town before he sold his land at Mystic ; ' ' implying 
that after he sold his land, his personal interests 
changed. While the controversy was at its height, a 



blinman' s pastorate. 79 

town meeting was held at Pequot, August 28, 1654, 
at which four men were appointed from Pequot, and 
three from Mystic and Pawcatuck, "to debate, rea- 
son and conclude whether Mystic and Pawcatuck 
should be a town, and upon what terms, and to deter- 
mine the case in no other way, but in the way of rea- 
son and love, and not by vote." The committee 
failed to agree. In 1656 the General Court passed 
the following order : "It is ordered by this Court, 
that while the ministry is maintained at Pawcatuck, 
the charge thereof and of the ministry at Pequett 
shall be borne as the major part of the inhabitants 
shall agree or order, that is whether Pawcatuck shall 
by and of themselves maintaine their minister, or 
whether they shall maintaine both their ministers in 
a joynt way." The majority decided that the settlers 
at Pawcatuck should pay their rates to Mr. Blinman, 
and appealed to the General Court to enforce their 
payment. At the session of May, 1657, the follow- 
ing vote was passed : ' ' This Court doth order that 
the inhabitants of Mistick and Paucatuck shall pay to 
Mr. Blinman that which was to him for last yeare, 
scil: to March last." [Col. Rec, 1636-1665, 
p. 300.] The following entry in the diary of Thomas 
Miner shows that Mr. Blinman was paid for services 
in Pawcatuck: "May 22, 1654, I paid Mr. Blinman 
one firkin of butter and 12d. in wampum, which made 



80 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

his whole year's pay." A committee was appointed 
by the legislature in May, 1657, consisting of Mr. 
Winthrop, Major Mason, Captain Callick and Mr. 
Allyn, to bring to an issue the dispute between the 
inhabitants of Pequot, Mystic and Pawcatuck. This 
committee met at Pequot, July 8, 1657. What they 
said or did is not known, but whatever their action, 
it only intensified the controversy. " Mr. Blinman's 
rates were not paid, and he gave up his occasional 
services at Mystic and Pawcatuck." [Hon. Richard 
A. Wheeler.] We have already recorded the recon- 
ciliation between Thomas Miner and Mr. Blinman, at 
the meeting of the Church held August 28, 1654. At 
the May session of the General Court for 1657, it is 
recorded in the doings of that body, that " Captain 
Denison doth acknowledge in this Court that hee 
wronged Mr. Blinman and missed his rule, and that 
he spake corruptly in saying that Mr. Blinman did 
preach for Paucatuck and Mystick being a Towne, 
before hee sold his land at Mystick as aforesaid." In 
the year 1658 it was decided by commissioners of the 
united Colonies that the territory hitherto comprising 
one plantation, should be divided into two, with the 
Mystic river for the dividing line, and that Mystic and 
Pawcatuck should be under the jurisdiction of Massa- 
chusetts, whose General Court incorporated the terri- 
tory into a township which it named Southerton. 



blinman's pastorate. 81 

Thus the unhappy differences which had estranged the 
people o£ these two sections from each other, were 
finally settled. 

Mr. Blinman was accustomed to preach to the 
Indians in his parish. A letter written by Thomas 
Allen, of Norwich, England, and dated the eighth 
day of the eleventh month of 1651, says concerning 
the progress of the gospel among the Indians : "I 
can testify * * * being lately come over from 
New England, that there are divers persons in sev- 
erall places who doe take pains, and labor in that 
work there, viz., not onely Mr. Eliot, of Roxbury, 
* * * and Mr. Mayhew * * * at an Island 
called Martin's Vineyard, but also Mr. Leveridge in 
the jurisdiction of Plymouth, and Mr. Blynman who 
lives now in a new Plantation in the Pequotts Coun- 
try/ 7 [Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. iv, p. 194.] 
It is stated that in 1657 the agents of the Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in New England proposed to 
him to become a missionary to the Pequots and Mo- 
hegans at a salary of £20 a year, and pay for an in- 
terpreter. He declined. But neither his declination 
nor the division of the plantation just spoken of, 
deprived either the Indians or the English people 
residing in Mystic and Pawcatuck from the privileges 
of the Grospel. For in 1657 Mr. Thomson came as 
a missionary to the Indians, at a salary of £10 for the 



82 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

first year and £20 for the second year. His meetings 
were attended by the English as well as by the Indians. 
Thomas Miner wrote in his diary nnder date of June 
12, 1659, "Mr. Tomson taught at mr. Burrows, 
mr. Winthrop was there." 

As showing Mr. Blinman' s appreciation of Mr. 
Thomson, the Indian missionary, it will be of interest 
to read the following letter, written from New Haven 
the year after Mr. Blinman left New London: 

"Loving Fkiend Me. Thomson : 

"I was bold by brother Parkes formerly to tender a small 
gift to you, viz., a piece of land and swamp which was given 
me for a wood lot, lying towards the west side of William 
Cumstock's hill, which if you please to accept as a token of 
my love I do give and confirm it to you. Your loving friend, 

' ' Richard Blinman. 

"New Haven, April 11, 1659." 

The 20th " of January [1657-8] being Wednesday, 
Mr. Blinman gave nottis that he would be gone," 
says the diary of Thomas Miner. January 29 he 
records that Mr. Blinman went to New Haven during 
that week. No reason appears. I am inclined to 
the opinion that the practice of the Half-way Cove- 
nant by the churches in the Colony had something to 
do with his summary departure. He resided there a 
little over a year, returning to New London to com- 
plete some business before embarking with his family 
for England, which he did shortly after. 

After a residence in America of twenty years, he 



blinman' s pastorate. 83 

returned to England by way of Newfoundland, 
sailing July 27 or 28, 1659. Under date of July 8 
of that year Thomas Miner wrote in his diary, u Fri- 
day the 8 Mr. Blinman was at Towne." Two days 
later he wrote, " the 10th," which was Sunday, "mr. 
Blinman taught at London." This was, doubtless, 
his farewell service in this town and in this country. 
He preached for some time in Newfoundland with 
great acceptance, and received an urgent call to settle 
there, which he declined. Rev. John Davenport wrote 
to John Winthrop, Jr., September 28, 1659, u and to 
let you know that I have received a, letter from Mr. 
Blinman dated August 22 [1659], whereby I under- 
stand that God hath brought him to his Newfound- 
land, in safety and health, and maketh his ministry 
acceptable to all the people there except some Quak- 
ers, and much desired and flocked unto, and hath 
made choice of a ship for Barnstaple, to his content 
the master being godly." [Mass. Hist. Coll., third 
series, vol. x, p. 25.] Here we have incidental 
testimony to his power and ability as a preacher. 
He arrived in England some time in 1660, and took 
up his abode in Bristol, where Savage says "he 
continued in the service." Two of his farms, at 
Pine Neck, and Fort Hill, were purchased by 
Christopher Christophers after he left the country, 
and the deed of conveyance reads: "I, Richard 



84 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Blinman, with Mary my wife, now dwelling in the 
castle, in the city of Bristol, England, 10 Jan. 
1670-1." We know from this, and from letters 
dated at Bristol as late as 1679, that after his return 
to England, he lived and probably died, in that city. 

He was a learned and an able man. This is the 
testimony of contemporaries. He was a Puritan of 
the straightest sect, and uncompromisingly opposed 
to ecclesiastical hierarchy, and to everything in 
Church order which had in it the least suspicion 
of hierarchy. He was an oui spoken Non- conformist ; 
and for this reason lost his charge in Chepstowe. He 
seems to have been among the last to seek an asylum 
in New England from the tyranny of Charles I. and 
of Laud. For events soon ripened into the death of 
the King, the ascendency of Puritanism in England, 
and the Lord Protectorate of Cromwell. He was an 
able expounder of the Word of God. Shortly before 
his death he wrote a treatise on infant baptism. 

The only writings of his which have come under 
our eye are a few of his letters to Rev. Increase 
Mather, u Teacher to the Second Church at Boston 
in New England." These reveal the man quite as 
much as sermons could do. April 12, 1677, he wrote 
from Bristol, where all his letters to Mr. Mather are 
dated, "since my former by this bearer, I have 
heard something that I cannot omit. The convoca- 



BUSMAN 7 S PASTORATE. 85" 

tion summoned by the prelates' procurement, who 
went up with high expectations of straitning the 
Non- conformists, and providing for themselves had 
no commission given them to convene when they came 
up. I can not but looke upon it as an answer to 
prayers, which calls forprayses." In a postscript 
he adds, " this post seems to lessen the great vic- 
tory of the French over the Prince of Orange and 
his army," referring probably to the defeat of the 
Prince of Orange at Cassel, which stirred the whole 
country to a cry for war to check French aggression. 
August 14, 1677, he writes again to Mr. Mather, 
as follows : "I, with many others, are grieved to 
hear, that so little reformation hath been wrought by 
the awful dispensation of God to Xew England, and 
doe feare what wilbe the yssue of them. But the 
Lord hath a people among you, whom I trust he wil 
never leave nor forsake." He probably speaks of 
the threatened loss of the Bay Charter, and adds, 
"God hath formerly often blasted such endeavors, 
and I hope, will doe so stil, it being a thing wherein 
his glory is so much concerned. The Lord give a 
mighty spirit of supplication, humiliation and Re- 
pentance to his own people amongst you." In this 
letter he alludes to the imprisonment of Shaftsbury, 
Buckingham, Salisbury and Wharton, whom Danby 
had caused to be confined in the Tower in 1677 on 



86 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

charge of contempt o£ the House of Commons. 
Alluding to failure of harvest because of excessive 
rains, he goes on to say, " and our misery and sin is, 
that it's laid to heart by very few. The Lord seems 
to say, the floure and wine-press shal not feed us, 
& that he will take away our corn in the season 
thereof. "We are making mirth, even now when 
God hath fourbished his sword against us. Cursed 
plays, by which the nation is debauched, abound, 
which our city experienced now at James's fayer." 
[St. James's Fair, which began on the eve of St. 
James's Day, July 25.] 

Under date of March, or April 8, 1678, he writes 
again : ' ' We have nothing but rumors of warrs 
against the French. * * * Our late news is, 
that the French have deserted their present designe 
at Mycena in Sicily ; & hath laid an embargo on all 
his [Charles's] vessels in France, and made an order 
against our English commodities, in imitation of what 
we have done against French commodities here, & 
on our ships here. On Thursday next our Parlia- 
ment, after a fortnight's adjournment, is to sit againe ; 
the day before which there is to be a day of humilia- 
tion in all London ; and that day fortnight over all 
England, to be seriously kept by all subjects, accord- 
ing to the printed form of prayer that shalbe pre- 
scribed. This post we heare that the French Mon- 



blinman's pastorate. 87 

sieur hath deserted Ghent and Ypres ; which maks 
some think we shal indeed have war with France.' 7 
This letter closes with reference to efforts to bring 
some of the Scotch to terms. The allusion to threat- 
ened war with France is a reference to a warlike 
speech from the throne to the Parliament of 1678, 
in answer to which supplies were voted and an army- 
raised. But the actual declaration never came. 
Charles simply turned Danby's threats to his own 
benefit. [Green pp. 630, 631]. 

Under date of May 20, 1678, after alluding to 
some political matters, and to a protest of the Scotch 
nobility against the rigorous dealings of Lauderdale, 
whose iron rule in Scotland had had, for one of its 
purposes the humbling of the Scotch Presbyterians 
[Green p. 616] Mr. Blinman writes : "I could not 
omit to give you the estate of our present affaiers, 
since my former. You see what need we have of 
prayers. Its thought some great shaking is neere. I 
believe that earthquake, Revelation 11th, is not far 
off, when the 7,000 names of men (who are indeed 
rather bruits than men) shalbe slain, and the remain- 
der (or rest of men) shal have their eyes opened, be 
affrighted and give glory to God. And then woe be 
to Rome." 

August 9, 1678, he writes again, in which he nar- 
rates some of the events connected with the French 



88 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

and Dutch war ; gives a current rumor that eight 
French men of war and six French merchantmen with 
9,500 men were lost by a hurricane in the West 
Indies, which he calls "an eminent blast of God, 
if true ; ' ' and says that ' i the Scots stil goe on with 
their meetings, notwithsanding all the cruelties they 
have met with, & its said, they increase, & many 
come in to them, who before stood off." He also 
speaks of the treaty of Nimeguen, which, says Green, 
" not only left France the arbiter of Europe, but it 
left Charles the master of a force of twenty thousand 
men levied for the war he refused to declare, and with 
nearly a million of French money in his pocket." 
Mr. Blinman adds: "You see our state, & I suppose 
you know your own better than I can tell you. Yet 
I shal adventure to give you this hint, under the Rose, 
that I feare an Inhabitant of your countrey would 
faine be Lord paramount over all the Colonies." To 
whom the writer refers in the last sentence we do not 
know. Various attempts of that kind were made by 
men who were ambitious of large powers. 

These letters were written in the tumultuous times 
of Charles II. They breathe the intense religious 
spirit of the men who, in those days, dissented from 
the established ecclesiastical order. There can be no 
mistaking the opinions of their author. The Puritan- 
ism for whose sake he had quitted England almost 



BLINMAX'S PASTORATE. 89 

forty years before, had lost, in the lapse of time, 
nothing of its strong hold upon him. He was keenly 
alive to the public questions which agitated his day. 
He was a believer in the Lord's second personal com- 
ing. He was a man of strong convictions, which he 
was not afraid to express, so as not to be misunder- 
stood. He devoutly recognized the hand of God in 
the startling events of the times. His early non- 
conformity had ripened into pronounced Separatism. 
He was a strong man. He must have left the 
impress of his spirit on the Church which he gath- 
ered. A man who is willing to suffer expatriation 
for the sake of his convictions cannot be weak. Xot 
very much is known of the details of his life here. 
But the work which he did abides in the Church 
whose foundations he laid so deep and so well in eter- 
nal truth, that they have stood stable and strong 
through all the changes and vicissitudes and social 
upheavals of over two centuries and a half. 

His children, were Jeremiah, born July 20, 1642; 
Ezekiel, born November 10, 1643; Azarikam, born 
January 2, 1646. These were all born in Gloucester. 
Jeremiah remained in this country. 

Dr. Trumbull says "he lived to a good old age, 
and at the city of Bristol happily concluded a life 
spent in doing good." The date of his death and his 
age we do not know. Kev. John Bishop, writing to 



90 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Increase Mather from Stamford, August 12, 1679, 
speaks of letters received from Mr. Blinman, [Mass. 
Hist. Coll., 4th series, vol. viii, p. 307] as if he 
were then alive. Thomas Miner, in his diary for 
May 23, 1683, wrote, " Was at New London * * * 
gave my testimony concerning Mr. Blindman's letter 
that he had received his pay from Mr. Christophers" 
for the farms on Pine Neck and Fort Hill. This is 
the last trace of him which we can find. We may 
conclude, therefore, that his death took place between 
1679 and 1683. He was in his prime when he came 
to America. His first child was born in Gloucester. 
His marriage had not taken place long before ; prob- 
ably after his arrival in 1640. Then his age at 
the time of his death must have been about eighty 
years. If no other monument to his memory exists, 
the Church which he gathered, and founded upon 
Christ, as the chief corner-stone, is a fitting one. 



V. 

GERSHOM BULKELEY'S PASTORATE. 
1661—1665. 



After the departure of Mr. Blinman the Church 
seems to have addressed itself immediately to the 
task of securing his successor. For June 17, 1658, 
Thomas Miner records in his diary, " thursday the 17 
Captaine denison, Mr. stanton, goodman cheesbor- 
ough was heare to bid me com to a meeting j ' , pre- 
sumably a meeting called with reference to securing 
a minister. For five days later he records, " Tues- 
day the 22 James morgan was to go to the Bay for A 
minister." This must have been an attempt to 
secure the Rev. Antipas Newman, of Wenham, who 
married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Governor 
John Winthrop, Jr. For the Governor wrote to his 
son, Fitz-John, September 9, 1658, as follows: "The 
Plantation of Pequot, which is now called New Lon- 
don (that name being established by order of the 
General Court) , hath beene very earnest with him to 
be there, Mr. Blinman having left them, who is at 
present settled at New Haven, and like to continue 



92 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

there. He lives in Mr. Hookes house there. Those 
people at New London have beene very earnest to 
have Mr. Newman, but the other of Wenham are not 
willing to heare of his removal from them." So the 
effort to secure him did not succeed. The attention 
of the Church was probably turned to Mr. Newman 
by the fact that he had preached for them with very 
great acceptance in 1657 while Mr. Blinman was 
absent at the Synod, held that year in Boston. Thus 
Jonathan Brewster wrote to Governor Winthrop from 
"Pequett," under date of June 28, 1657, "Mr. 
Blyndman is not returned from the assembly of 
elders. Young Mr. Newman supplied his place in 
the ministry, a man very hopeful, and, inded, 
beyond expectation did wonderfully satisfy the spirits 
of his hearers." 

Three years intervened between the departure of 
Mr. Blinman and the coming of Mr. Bulkeley. How 
religious services were maintained we are not told. 
In January, 1659-60, Thomas Miner makes these 
entries in his diary: " Sabath day 22 we had uo 
meeting." "Sabath day the 29 Capt. Denison did 
exercise." The captain had performed the same 
service before. For October 19, 1656, he records 
that ' ' Captaine denison taught. ' ' These were doubt- 
less what were called in the olden times ' ' deacons' 
meetings." Though whether this Denison was a 



bulkeley's pastorate. 93 

deacon we do not know. Besides it is supposed that 
John Tinker, a man of prominence and gifts in the 
town, often conducted public worship during the 
interval. For an item of business transacted at town 
meeting, December 1, 1661, was " to know what 
allowance Mr. Tinker shall have for his tyme spent 
in exercising in public." As Mr. Bulkeley had at 
that time begun his stated ministrations, it seems 
likely that Mr. Tinker had often exercised in public 
at religious meetings on the Sabbath, until the arrival 
of the new minister. He received for these services 
six pounds. "He was rate-maker, collector and 
commissioner for the year 1662, and also an assistant 
of the Colony." He was chosen, with James Morgan 
and Obadiah Bruen, "to seat the people in the meet- 
ing house, which, they doing, the inhabitants are to 
rest silent." This vote seems to point to some openly 
expressed dissatisfaction which was thus summarily 
rebuked. Mr. Tinker was popular with the people, 
insomuch that charges of treason which were brought 
against him found little favor with the public. He 
died at Hartford, while awaiting trial upon these 
charges, and was honored with a funeral at public 
expense. He was licensed to distil and retail liquors, 
and had, from the General Court, a monopoly of the 
business, with power to arrest any who should 
infringe on his rights and privileges. If it seems 



94 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

strange to us that such a man should conduct reli- 
gious services, it is to be remembered that public 
sentiment upon such questions has very decidedly- 
changed since those times. 

Before proceeding to the narrative of Mr. Bulke- 
ley's ministry, we will note one or two facts, which 
show the relation in which the Church stood to the 
town at that time, and for about eighty years after- 
wards. All the business of the Church, such as 
calling a minister, making a contract with him, fixing 
and providing for his salary, building houses of wor- 
ship and the like, was transacted in open town meet- 
ing. The legislature of the Colony passed upon some 
of the matters which pertained solely to the spiritual 
affairs of the Church, and "to its discipline, which are 
now determined upon by the Church. Seats in the 
meeting house were assigned by vote of the town. 
Thus at one time it was voted l ' that Mary Jiggles be 
seated in the third seat on the woman's side, where 
she is ordered by the town to sit ; " at another time 
" that Mrs. Green, the deacon's wife, be seated in ye 
fore seat on the woman's side ;" at still another time 
"that for the benefeit of setting the psalm Mr. Fos- 
dick is seated in the third seat at the end next the 
altar." These votes show somewhat of the relation 
of the town to ecclesiastical affairs prior to 1726. 



bulkeley's pastorate. 95 

Until 1657, ' ' the whole territory from Nahantick 
on the east to Nahantick on the west, continued to be 
regarded as one township, acting together in town 
meeting. * * * They formed also but one eccle- 
siastical society" [Miss Caulkins] for the levying of 
ministerial rates. These rates were assessed upon 
the grand list, so that every property holder in the 
town was liable to be taxed for the support of the 
gospel. The payment of these rates was not a matter 
of choice. Thus September 21, 1664, a vote of the 
town was passed ' ' to determine a more certain way 
for the ministry to be upheld amongst us." What 
way was decided upon we are not told. A commit- 
tee was chosen at the same time to see that the peo- 
ple of ' ' Pockatuck ' ' paid their ' ' rates to our towne as 
formerly they did." November 21 of that year 
Peter Blatchford was chosen "Atturney for the towne 
to see to the coming in of the minister's rates." 
This method of supporting the gospel continued till 
other denominations came into the field. 

In 1661, a little over three years after the depart- 
ure of Mr. Blinman, the town entered into contract 
with Mr. Gershom Bulkeley, of Concord, in the Col- 
ony of Massachusetts, to be their minister. He was 
a notable man, of notable parentage. He was not, 
like his predecessor, driven out of England, because 
of his Puritan principles. But his father was, and 



96 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

he himself was a Puritan. He was a son of Rev. 
Peter Bulkeley, the first minister of Concord, Massa- 
chusetts. His mother was Grace, the daughter of 
Sir Richard Chitwood. The story is told that she 
apparently died on her passage to this country. Her 
husband, thinking that land was near, was not will- 
ing to bury her at sea. His wishes were respected. 
On the third day symptoms of vitality appeared. 
She recovered, and lived to a good old age. Gershom 
Bulkeley was born soon after the arrival of his par- 
ents in this country. 

Peter Bulkeley, his father, was son of Rev Edward 
Bulkeley, D. D., of Odell, Bedfordshire, England; 
was born January 31, 1583 j was educated at Saint 
John's College, Cambridge ; received there the de- 
gree of A. M. in 1608, and was chosen a fellow of 
his Alma Mater. He seems to have inherited a con- 
siderable estate from his father, and therefore to have 
been a man of some wealth. For the History of Con- 
cord, Mass., says " many of the first settlers were 
men of acknowledged wealth, enterprise, talents and 
education in their native country. Several were of 
noble families. The Rev. Peter Bulkeley brought 
more than 6,000 pounds sterling." He succeeded 
his father in the parish of Odell in 1619-20, and 
though his non-conformist principles were well 
known, he was allowed, through the favor of the 



bulkeley' s pastorate. 97 

bishop of Lincoln, who was his diocesan, to remain 
unmolested in his parish for fifteen years. But when 
Laud became Primate of England he was silenced 
and ejected from his living. He sold his property 
and came to this country in 1635. He was settled at 
Concord, Mass., April 6, 1637, and died there March 
9, 1658, aged 76 years. 

This father of Gershom Bulkeley was a great man. 
The history of Concord says that he "became an 
author of distinguished celebrity. " In 1637 he, to- 
gether with Thomas Hooker, was chosen moderator 
of the Synod, held at Cambridge, which condemned 
Antinomianism, and probably inaugurated those deal- 
ings with the persons holding these views, which 
resulted in the banishment of Ann Hutchinson and 
her brother-in-law, Rev. John Wheelwright, and the 
fining of a number of prominent citizens who sympa- 
thized with her. "In its result the council stated 
and condemned eighty-two erroneous opinions and 
nine unwholesome expressions, besides specifying 
many texts of Scripture which had been abused." 
[Congregationalists in America, p. 134.] Of the two 
men, Peter Bulkeley and Thomas Hooker, who pre- 
sided over this council it was said, " two as able and 
judicious divines as any country affords, by whom 
the disputes were managed with all liberty and 
fidelity to be desired." President Stiles said of 



98 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Peter Bulkeley that he ' ' was a masterful reasoner in 
theology." He added, " I consider him and Presi- 
dent Chauncey, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Norton and Mr. 
Davenport as the greatest divines among the first 
ministers of New England, and equal to the first 
characters in theology in all Christendom and in all 
ages." The following estimate of Peter Bulkeley is 
expressed in verse : 

Riches and honors Buckley layes aside 

To please his Christ, for whom he now doth war ; 

Why, Buckley ! thou hast riches that will bide, 
And honors that exceed earth's honors far. 

Of such truly noble parentage was Mr. Gershom 
Bulkeley born December 26, 1635. 

He graduated from Harvard College in 1655, when 
but twenty years of age. October 26, 1659, he was 
married to Sarah Chauncey, only daughter of the 
president of Harvard College. When he came to 
New London in 1661, his widowed mother followed 
him and dwelt here till she died. The house in which 
she lived was bought of William Hough, and stood 
"hard below the meeting house that now is." The 
lot originally belonged to Mr. Obadiah Bruen. Mr. 
Bradstreet, in a notice of her death recorded in his 
diary, pays her the following worthy tribute: "April 
21 (1669) Mrs. Grace Bulkley, ye widow of Mr. 
Peter Bulkley, sometime pastour of ye chh in Con- 
cord, deceased. She was a woman of great piety 



bulkeley' s pastorate. 99 

and wisdome, and dyed in a good old Age. Her sick- 
ness was long and very afflictive. She was sick near 
3 months before she dyed. * * * April 25, 69 
(being Sabbath day), she was interred, her soul 3 
days before was entered upon an everlasting Sabbath 
of rest. She dyed and was buried in N. London. 
Blessed are those who dye in ye Lord, &c." She is 
buried in an unmarked grave in our ancient cemetery. 

Soon after Mr. Bulkeley came to New London, an 
item acted on in town meeting relates to repairs on 
the Blinman meeting house. It is as follows : "Dec. 
1, 1661. The towne have agreed with Goodman 
Elderkin and Goodman Waller to repare the turret of 
the meeting house, and to pay them what they shall 
demand in reason." 

The contract with Mr. Bulkeley was entered into 
after he had preached here several months, with a 
view to permanence. No reference was made, at the 
time, to ordination. He was hired for a term of 
years. He was never ordained as pastor of the 
Church, although this was the wish of the town. 
For " January 15, 1663-4, James Rogers, Levt. 
Smith, Cary Latham and William Hough are ap- 
poynted to goe to Mr. Bulkeley for the settling him 
amongst us j" that is, to urge his consent to ordina- 
tion. And Thomas Miner records in his diary, Au- 
gust 16, 1663, '-'goodman Cheeseboro desired the in- 



100 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

habitants to meet for the settling of the ministrie and 
other things." This effort to make permanent a 
ministry which had hitherto been but temporary, was 
not successful. 

The salary pledged to Mr. Bulkeley was £80 a 
year for three years, and after that more if they were 
able, and inclined, to give more. The amount of 
increase, if any sum were added to the stipulated sal- 
ary, was left to the state of the hearts of the town's 
people at the time. For the agreement read, " or as 
much more as God shall move their hearts to give, 
and they do find it needful to be paid." This was a 
perfectly safe agreement for the town to make, for 
they seem to have had their hearts so well in hand 
that they were not moved to give more than the £80. 
The salary promised " was to be reckoned in provi- 
sions or English goods." In addition it was provided 
that Mr. Bulkeley, for the first three years, should 
have ' ' all such silver as is weekly contributed by 
strangers, to help towards the buying of books ;" so 
that the new pastor need not be bookless. Further 
than this, the town agreed to defray the expenses of 
moving from Concord — an undertaking of no small 
magnitude, and attended with considerable difficulty 
and expense in those days. Still further the town 
bound itself to " provide him with a dwelling house, 
orchard, garden and pasture, and with upland and 



bulkeley' s pastorate. 101 

meadow for a small farm." Thus the first two min- 
isters of the first Church were agriculturists in their 
way, though Mr. Bulkeley never became so large a 
land owner as Richard Blinman. Besides, the town 
promised to supply Mr. Bulkeley with fire wood 
yearly for the use of his family, and to "do their 
endeavor to suit him with a servant- man or youth, 
and maid, he paying for their time." Finally it was 
agreed that, if he should die during his ministry, his 
wife and children should receive from the town 1 1 the 
full and just sum of £60 sterling." 

There seems to have been some difficulty about 
providing a dwelling house. To obviate it Mr. Bulk- 
eley proposed to release the town from this obliga- 
tion, and to provide a house for himself. He also 
proposed to release the town from their promise to 
pay to his family £60 in case of his death, if they 
would pay him in hand £80. To this the town agreed 
on condition that he remain as their minister seven 
years. But "in case he remove before the 7 yeere 
he is to return the 80 1. agen, but if he stay the 7 
yeere out, the 80 1. is wholly given him, or if God 
take him away before this tyme of 7 yeeres, the 
whole is given his wife and children." Evidently 
this did not contemplate any other taking away than 
death. For in 1666 a committee, consisting of Mr. 
William Douglass and goodman Hough, was appoint- 



102 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ed " to demand the 80 pound of Mr. Buckley which 
he stands ingaged to pay to ye towne. ' ; This demand 
was pressed till it was paid. To meet this obligation 
Mr. Bulkeley gave back to the town £30 which were 
voted him in 1666 for preaching after his ministry 
had ended, and in 1668 he mortgaged his house and 
lot to Samuel Shrimpton, of Boston, to secure the 
remaining £50. 

Having freed the town from their agreement to 
provide a parsonage for him, Mr. Bulkeley purchased 
the home of Samuel Lathrop, who was about to 
remove to Norwich. The house stood beyond the 
mill brook on the east side of what is now known as 
North Main street. It still stands [1897], and forms 
the more ancient part of the dwelling of the late 
Abraham Bragaw, No. 11 North Main street. In it 
are many of the original timbers of which it was con- 
structed by Mr. Lathrop. Here Mr. Bulkeley lived 
during his residence in New London. 

As we have seen, efforts were made by the town to 
get his consent to ordination. But for reasons which 
do not appear he refused. He continued to minister 
to the Church till June 1665, when, by his own act, 
his relation to the town was brought to an end. 
That his ministry was acceptable to the people is evi- 
dent from the fact already stated, that a committee 
of the town were appointed to wait on him with refer- 



io& 

ence to his ordination and permanent settlement in 
the pastorate. 

He was a preacher of more than local celebrity - 
For Mr. Hoadly says that at sometime during his 
ministry, " though in what year has not been ascer- 
tained, it seems that he preached the annual election 
sermon, of which the text was Romans xiii : 7." 
Further, he was several times appointed by the Gen- 
eral Court upon important committees respecting 
ecclesiastical affairs. So that his widely recognized 
abilities were likely to give him a strong hold upon 
the people to whom he ministered. 

Not only did the town attempt to have him ordained 
as their permanent pastor, but also they signified their 
desire to have him continue among them in the minis- 
terial office by passing the following vote, February 
25, 1663-4 ; • ■ Mr. Buckley for enlarging maintenance 
yt he may keep a man and also take the getting of 
wood into his owne hands — if not let 10 1. more be 
aded to our town rate for wood cutting and carting. 7 ' 
It will be remembered that, by the original contract, 
the town was to furnish his yearly supply of wood. 
Under the same date the following vote was passed ; 
"it is agreed by the towne that henceforward Mr. 
Buckley shall have six score pound a yeere, in pro- 
vision pay, good and marchandable, he freeing the 
towne from all other ingagements." 



104 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

These votes show that the relations between Mr. 
Bulkeley and his people were harmonious. No sign of 
uneasiness appears till a vote of the town, February 25, 
1664-5, to the following effect. " The towne being 
desired to declare there myndes concerning Mr. Bulk- 
ley, it was propounded whether they were willing to 
leave Mr. Bulkley to the libertye of his conscience 
without any compelling him, or enforcing him to any- 
thing in the execution of his place and office contrarye 
to his light according to the lawes of the common- 
wealth. Voated to be their myndes." To what this 
liberty of conscience referred we are not told. "We 
may presume that it had somewhat to do with his de- 
parture a few months later. Evidently he had been 
speaking his mind freely upon some topic, and his 
sentiments were not acceptable to all his people. He 
was a man of very decided convictions, and had the 
courage of them. He was no brawler, but a man of 
peace. So, rather than live in contention, actual or 
possible, he withdrew from his pastorate here. He 
was evidently not a man easily moved from his pur- 
pose, when once it was taken. Although the town 
voted him the fullest liberty of conscience to speak 
and act, yet the fact that the question was raised at 
all, betrayed a disposition on the part of some, from 
which an independent mind would shrink, and may 
have revealed to him a difference between him and 



bulkeley's pastorate. 105 

some of his people likely to widen, and convinced 
him that the way of separation was the way of peace. 
At any rate he withdrew from his ministry here after 
somewhat more than three years. 

Strenuous efforts were made to retain him, and to 
shake him in his purpose to withdraw. For not only 
did the town vote him liberty to speak and act as his 
conscience should dictate, but also, June 10, 1665 
the following vote was passed : l ' The Towne under- 
standing Mr. Buckleys intention to goe into the Bay 
have sent James Morgan and Mr. Douglas to desire 
him to stay untill seacond day com seven tnight which 
day the Towne have agreed to ask againe Mr. Fitch 
to speake with him in order to know Mr. Buckleys 
mynde f ullye whether he will continue with us or no 
to preach the gospell." This Mr. Fitch, whose good 
offices were sought by the town, was probably the 
pastor of the First Church in Norwich, who had emi- 
grated with his people from Saybrook in 1660. As 
steps were taken at once to secure his successor, it is 
evident that Mr. Fitch's persuasions did not shake 
Mr. Bulkeley's purpose to retire from his ministry 
over this Church. 

The reasons for this step on his part can only be 
surmised from certain facts gathered here and there. 
It is certain that the separation was not due to any 
lack of ability in his pulpit ministrations. For he is 



106 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

spoken of as having rare abilities, and excellent learn- 
ing, and as being " a truly great man." It is also 
certain that he did not leave because any feelings of 
bitterness had sprung up between him and the people. 
For besides their efforts to retain him as their settled 
pastor, we may note the fact that he continued to reside 
in town nearly two years, and frequently to supply the 
pulpit, until Mr. Bradstreet came. In recognition of 
his services, as occasional supply, the town "voated 
and agreed that Mr. Buckley for his time and paines 
taken in preaching the word of God to us since the 
time of his yeere was expired shall have thirty pounds 
to be gathered by rate." This was a proceeding not 
unmixed with shrewdness on the part of the town, 
for thereby they gained thirty of the eighty pounds 
which they demanded Mr. Bulkeley to return, because 
he departed before the expiration of seven years. 

The firmness with which he refused to reconsider 
his decision to leave, in spite of such demonstrations 
of regard, suggests that there were some reasons for 
taking the step which, in his mind, outweighed every 
other consideration. 

The weakness of his voice, because of which, says 
Judge Adams, " he practically ceased preaching" 
altogether a few years later, may have had some 
influence in bringing him to this decision. Trumbull 



bulkeley's pastorate. 107 

says, tl by reason of infirmity he resigned the minis- 
try many years before his death.' ' 

J. H. Trumbull, and Palfrey both state personal 
qualities of Mr. Bulkeley, from their point of view, 
which may help further to account for his leaving 
New London against the evidently unanimous desire 
of the people. Mr. Trumbull says u over- weening 
self-importance, obstinate adherence to his own opin- 
ions or predjudices, a litigious spirit, and the pecu- 
liarities of his political creed, detracted from his use- 
fulness, and kept him almost constantly at strife with 
his parish, his neighbors, or the government of the 
Colony." Palfrey says, "he was always a discon- 
tented and troublesome person, and what he has writ- 
ten respecting these times is to be taken with large 
allowance for his being a bigoted partisan of Andros." 
These qualities may have developed to a certain degree 
in later life. But other testimony as to his noble 
personal qualities will set him before us in quite a 
different light. What Trumbull calls obstinacy, and 
Palfrey discontent, was doubtless a quality of char- 
acter in him, but not deserving so obnoxious names. 
Gurdon Russell, M. D., of Hartford, in a paper read 
May 25, 1892, speaking of his leaving New London, 
said, "it might have been due to restlessness or inde- 
pendence of character which was occasionally mani- 
fested in after life." Against the charge that he was 



108 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

11 constantly at strife with his parish" it may be urged 
that the people of New London made every effort to 
prevent his leaving them, and that the Church in 
Wethersfield, after he had been its pastor for ten 
years, attempted to retain him by voting to provide 
him an assistant, on account of his infirmities and 
the weakness of his voice. While the statements of 
Trumbull and Palfrey do injustice to Mr. Bulkeley, 
he doubtless had a certain positive force and decision 
of character, which made him a difficult man to 
manage, and which they interpreted as obstinacy and 
discontent. This positive force of character, resent- 
ing the questioning of his authority expressed in the 
vote of the town February 25, 1664-5, may shed some 
light upon his refusal to remain as minister of the 
Church, in spite of the earnest solicitation of the 
people. 

A final possible reason for his leaving New London 
.and a possible explanation of the town's vote "to 
leave Mr. Bulkeley libertye of conscience," maybe 
found in the new way, known as the " Parish" or 
"Presbyterian " way, which had crept into the prac- 
tice of some of the Churches in the Colony. Mr. 
Bulkeley favored the new, as opposed to the old, or 
Congregational way, as appears from this entry in 
the diary of Thomas Miner: "The 23d of March 
(1663-4) I was informed by H. g. that * * * 



bulkeley's pastorate. 109 

Mr. Buckley would be at the fast at R. h. his house, 
and would be helpful to gather a H. After the pr's 
beteriall way; 24 day March." Mr. Hoadly says 
[Preface to Will and Doom] : ' ' In his opinions respect- 
ing ecclesiastical polity he was inclined to Presby- 
terianism, rather than Congregationalism ; the polit- 
ical sentiments which he ayows in the preface of this 
book would hardly be compatible with the latter." 
Presbyterianism is a system of centralized eccle- 
siastical authority. Against this it may be that 
the Church rebelled. For, Dr. Chapin, in an ad- 
dress at the centennial of Glastonbury, said of 
Mr. Bulkeley, "he was a man of peace, but at the 
same time was one who expected unqualified obedi- 
ence to authority. A slight questioning of this kind 
led to his resignation of the parish of New London." 
It is quite true that "he was a man of peace," but 
not one of the peace-at-any-cost sort. If he would 
not stay in a controversy, neither would he seek to 
purchase peace by compromising his convictions. 
He took the other course, and withdrew. It must 
be, therefore, that all estimates of his character, 
which present him as a contentious man, do him 
injustice. 

"What the questioning, to which Dr. Chapin refers, 
was about does not appear. But the vote of the town 
granting him full liberty of conscience in speaking 



110 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

his mind in the exercise of his office, justifies the 
view that his pulpit utterances had been challenged. 
Besides, the Douglass Genealogy [p. 57] says that 
1 ' in 1664-5 the Church began to feel some uneasiness 
in regard to their minister's views," and it seems 
probable that it was because of this uneasiness that 
the vote granting him liberty of conscience was taken. 
The opinions which encountered the opposition of 
his people could not at the time have been political, 
as Mr. J. H. Trumbull implies. For as late as 1675, 
nine years after he left New London, he took a 
prominent part in defending the autonomy of the 
Colony against the efforts of Sir Edmund Andros to 
enlarge the dominions of the Duke of York within 
Connecticut. Mr. Bulkeley's preference for a cen- 
tralized form of government, as it appears in Will 
and Doom, and in other of his writings, brought 
him into sympathy with those methods of Church 
administration which involved all the points in dis- 
pute under the Half-way Covenant touching baptism 
and Church membership. The temper of the Church, 
which flatly refused to adopt the Saybrook Platform 
ninety years later, indicates that it did not take kindly 
to the new way. It seems almost certain, therefore, 
that his leaving New London had reference to some 
of these ecclesiastical questions which were beginning 
to disturb the Churches. 



bulkeley' s pastorate. Ill 

But be that as it may, in June, 1665, he stepped 
down and out o£ his first pulpit, of his own accord. 
He remained in town till some time in the early part 
of 1667, when he went to Wethersfield to assume 
charge of the Church in that town. The date of his 
ordination and installation as pastor of that Church is 
given in an entry in the journal of his successor in 
New London, Rev. Simon Bradstreet, which is as 
follows: "Oct. 27 [1669] Mr. Gershom Bulkeley 
was ordained at Wethersfield by Mr. Joseph Rcw- 
landson and Mr. Samuel Willard." He held that 
office till his health obliged him to relinquish it in 
1677. On retiring from the ministry he removed to 
Glastonbury and gave himself to the practice of med- 
icine and to politics. Rev. A. C. Adams, pastor in 
Wethersfield from 1868 to 1879, in an historical sketch 
of that Church, says of Mr. Bulkeley. he "was evi- 
dently a man of genuine goodness, and large ability. 
He broke down in health, however, early, and after 
ten years exchanged the ministry for the practice of 
medicine, in which, as also in the service of the 
State, he was much distinguished. One entry in the 
town records I like the tone of : ' The town, being 
informe.d by their honored pastor that it was too hard 
for him, and beyond his power, by reason of weak- 
ness of voice, to carry on the whole work of the min- 
istry, they declare themselves ready to provide an- 



112 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

other minister to assist him in his work, and to be a 
help and comfort to him ; and they desire that their 
honored pastor would afford them his advice and 
direction respecting a meet process for that work, for 
which they will be thankful to him, and will take the 
same into serious consideration.' 7; But the state of 
his health was such that he retired from the public 
ministrations of the gospel to practice the healing art. 
It is testimony to his surgical and medical abilities 
that the General Court, in 1675, while he was yet in 
the ministry, appointed him ' ' surgeon to the army 
that had been raised against the Indians, and Mr. 
Stone was directed to supply the place of Mr. B. in 
his absence. After his return from King Philip's 
war, he asked a dismission from the Church at Weth- 
ersfield, on account of the state of his health, re- 
moved to the east side of the river, and commenced 
practice as a physician, which he continued over thirty 
years." [Manual of the Church in Wethersfield.] 
In the Colonial Records I find the following vote of 
the General Court, October, 1686: ' ' This court being 
well acquainted with the ability, skill and knowledge 
of Mr. Ger shorn Bulckly, in the arts of phissick and 
chirurgery, doe grant him full and free liberty and 
license to practice in the administration of phissick 
and chirurgery as there shall be occasion and he shall 
be capeable to atend. " His medical skill was so great, 



113 

and he was so widely known, that he was summoned 
from far and near to attend upon severe cases of dis- 
ease. One of his descendants [Mrs. Caroline Bulkley 
Stuart] has a large box full of his medical writings, 
which bear witness to his remarkable industry. Mr. 
Trumbull says of him: "Mr. Bulkley was viewed 
as one of the greatest physicians and surgeons ; ' 7 and 
Dr. Chauncey says, tl I have heard him mentioned 
as a truly great man, and eminent for his skill in 
chemistry." His medical opinion secured the re- 
prieve of one Abigal Thompson, who was under sen- 
tence of death for the crime of murder. In the 
Glastonbury centennial it is said of him, "asa minis- 
ter Mr. Bulkeley was of the first class, while as a 
physician he stood at the head of his profession." 
"He was famous as a surgeon, prominent as a chem- 
ist, and highly respected as a magistrate." 

In 1679 he represented the town of Wethersfield 
in the General Court. Mr. Hoadley says that there 
are still ' ' among our State archives some of his legal 
opinions and briefs." The same authority says that 
' ' the letters addressed to the General Assembly on 
this subject (Andros' attempt to take territory away 
from Connecticut) are in Bulkeley' s handwriting, 
and suggest that he was magna pars of the affair, 
which was very adroitly managed." It may be 
added that the schemes of Andros were at that time 



114 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

defeated, and Mr. Bulkeley was on the popular side 
in politics. 

He was not always on the popular side, but on the 
side which he believed to be right, and advocated it 
fearlessly. In October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros 
was again in Hartford ; this time to demand the 
charter. The story is familiar ; how, while the 
Assembly was debating whether or not to surrender 
the document, the lights were suddenly extinguished, 
and when they were relighted, the charter, which 
had been lying on the table, was missing. "And 
now," says Roger Wolcott, " Sir Edmund being in 
town and the charters gone, the secretary closed the 
Colony Records with the word Finis and all departed." 
Mr. Bulkeley, who never favored any least approach 
to a democratic form of government, held that the 
Colony had surrendered the right of self-government 
guaranteed by the charter. Thus, he said, "we 
think that the Colony of Connecticut is de jure (we 
wish we could say de facto) , as much subject to the 
government of the crown of England as London or 
Oxford." When, therefore, in 1689, Sir Edmund 
was imprisoned in Boston and Mr. Bradstreet was 
reinstated as Governor of the Bay Colony, and the 
missing charter of Connecticut was brought forth 
from its hiding place, and the Colony once more re- 
sumed the reins of government, Mr. Bulkeley, joined 



bulkeley's pastorate. 115 

by Mr. Edward Palmes, and some others of equal 
note, opposed the proceedings, and refused to recog- 
nize the Colonial government. He was now on the 
unpopular political side. Says Dr. Chapin, in his 
Glastonbury address, "asa politician he was opposed 
to the resumption of the government by the Colonial 
authorities in 1689 after the time of Sir Edmund 
Andros." His "political foresight and sagacity 
* * * enabled him to see that the course the 
Colonists were pursuing would finally lead to the 
triumph of those democratic principles which they 
all disavowed, and consequently he set his face against 
them." In pursuance of his efforts to prevent the 
re-establishment of the charter government, he ad- 
dressed a letter to the convention met at Hartford, 
May 8, 1689, upon The People's Right to Election 
or Alteration of Government in Connecticut argued. 
But the Colony proceeded to resume government 
under its restored charter, and in 1692, Dec. 12, 
Mr. Bulkeley issued his famous pamphlet, Will and 
Doom, or The Miseries of Connecticut by and under 
an Usurped and Arbitrary Power. It was an argu- 
ment in behalf of the divine right of kings. A 
single sentence from the preface will give its key- 
note: "A lawful authority is the root, and the law 
of the land is the rule, of justice ; we want both, we 
have no way to come at either without a stream flow- 



116 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ing from their sacred majesties, who, under God, are 
the fountain." Lord Cornbury and Joseph Dudley 
made use of this book in their efforts against Con- 
necticut, but without avail. Sir Henry Ashurst, the 
Colony's agent in England, speaks of it as having 
l>een sent over, " all by Mr. Dudley's contrivance." 
And Lord Cornbury wrote to England in 1704 say- 
ing, "I take the liberty to send your lordships the 
laws of Connecticut, and with them a book writ by 
one Mr. Buckley, who is an inhabitant of Connecti- 
cut. By that you will be informed of the methods 
of proceeding in that Colony." But as late as this 
Mr. Bulkeley does not seem to have had any grievance 
against the Colony, nor to have taken an active part 
in politics. 

Mr. Bulkeley was a man of marked ability, and his 
hand was strong, and made itself felt, upon whatever 
he touched. He wrote a book upon the divinity of 
the Scriptures, which he left for the use of his chil- 
dren. He gave his theological manuscripts to his son 
John, the first minister of Colchester. Some of his 
books are said to be in the library of Trinity College. 
It was said of him that ' ' he was master of several 
languages, among which may be reckoned Greek, 
Latin and Dutch." Dr. Russell said of him, " from 
all I can gather about him, he was a learned and 
pious clergyman of very high order." Upon the 



bulkeley's pastorate. 117 

stone, in the Wethersfield cemetery, which marks his 
grave, is this inscription, which testifies to his worth, 
and rare qualities of character : ' l He was honorable 
in his descent ; of rare abilities, extraordinary indus- 
try, excellent learning, master of many languages, 
exquisite in his skill in divinity, physic and law, and 
of a most exemplary and Christian life. In certam 
spem beatae resurrectionis repositus." A sentence 
from his will, dated May 26, 1712, will show some- 
thing of his character. "The said Gershom Bulk- 
eley having lived much more than twenty years upon 
the very mouth of the grave, under so great infirmi- 
ties that I can not but wonder how I have all this 
while escaped falling into it, have not been wholly 
unmindful of that which nature and prudence call 
for in such cases." Then follow the bequests which 
need not be repeated here. He died, it is supposed 
of small pox, December 2, 1713, aged 78 years. 
Fifteen days later, Dec. 17, Rev. James Pier- 
pont, pastor of the First Church in New Haven, 
wrote lamenting the ' ' hasty removal of three so valu- 
able men, Mr. Bulkeley, Haynes and Russel. Surely, ?J 
he continues, " it's not unfit in such a critical junc- 
ture, when so many cedars fall, to cry, Ah Lord ! 
wilt thou not make a full end ? Ah ! help Lord, for 
ye godly man ceaseth." 

This brief sketch of his life justifies the remark of 



118 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

one of his descendants, the Hon. Morgan G. Bulke- 
ley, that he ' ' was a prominent and distinguished fig- 
ure among the men of the Colony during the time in 
which he lived." He exerted a wide influence, and 
his opinions were honored, even by those who were 
opposed to him politically. 

Many of his descendants have held prominent posi- 
tions in social, political, and religious life. Charles, 
his eldest son, was licensed by the Colonial Court, to 
practice medicine. He settled in New London in 1687. 
He had a son Charles, who lived to the advanced age 
of ninety-five, and died in 1848. He was the father of 
Leonard Bulkeley, the founder of Bulkeley school. 
Peter, the second son, and fourth child of Gershom 
Bulkeley, was lost at sea. Edward, the third son 
and fifth child, lived in Wethersfield. From him was 
descended another Gershom Bulkeley, who was for 
thirty years pastor of the Church at Cromwell. John, 
the fourth son and sixth child of Gershom Bulkeley, 
graduated from Harvard College in 1699, at the age 
of twenty, and was settled as the first minister of Col- 
chester Dec. 20, 1703, where he died June, 1731. 
From him is descended the Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley, 
recently Governor of this State. The two daughters of 
Gershom Bulkeley married and settled in Wethers- 
field and Glastonbury. 



VI. 



SIMON BRADSTREET'S PASTORATE. 
Mat, 1666.— August, 1683. 



The town at once set about the task of securing a 
successor to Mr. Bulkeley. For July 10, 1665, there 
is this record : "If it be your myndes yt Mr. Janies 
Rogers shall goe in behalfe of the towne to Mr. 
Brewster to give him a call and to know whether he 
will come to us to be our minister * * * mani- 
fest it by lifting up your hands. Voted." Probably 
this was Nathaniel Brewster, of Brookhaven, L. I. 
The invitation seems to have been declined. For 
October 9, of the same year, the following action was 
taken: " Mr. Douglas by a full voate none manifest- 
ing themselves to the contrary, was chosen to go to 
Mr. "Wilson and Mr. Elliot to desire their advise and 
help for the procureinge of a minister for the towne." 
Mr. Wilson had come from England with Wiothrop, 
and was teacher of the First Church in Shawmut, or 
Boston, till he died in 1667. Elliot was the pastor of 
the First Church in Roxbury for fourteen years, and 
then became the famous apostle to the Indians. 



120 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Evidently Mr. Douglas went upon his mission at 
once. For ''November 24 a town meeting concern- 
ing what Mr. Douglas hath done about a minister" 
was held. At the same meeting it was voted that a 
letter should be sent to Deacon William Park, of 
Roxbury, asking him to intercede with Mr. Brad- 
street in behalf of the town to persuade him to come 
to it as its minister j and it was voted that ' ' full 
powre be given to Mr. Parke to act in our behalf, the 
towne expressing themselves willing to give 60 lb., 
and rather than the work seas, to proceed to ten 
pound more, giving our trusty friend liberty to treat 
with others in case our desire of Mr. Broadstreet 
faile." October 5 and 30, 1666, the town voted a 
piece of land to Mr. Douglas, "which is for his sat- 
isfaction for his journey to Boston." January 12, 
1665-6, a town meeting was held, at which the follow- 
ing items of business were attended to : " The return 
of Mr. Bradstreet's letter to be read," "a rate to 
underpin the meeting house," "concerning messen- 
gers to goe for Mr. Bradstreet;" "Also for a place 
where he shall be when he comes." February 26, 
1665-6, "It was voated that Left* Avery and James 
Morgan be chosen messengers to fetch up Mr. Brad- 
street as soon as moderate weather presents. 7 ' " It is 
voated and agreed that the townsmen shall have power 
to provide what is needful for the Messengers that are 



bradstreet's pastorate. 121 

sent to Mr. Bradstreet and allso to provide for him a 
place to reside in at his coming." It was voted also 
that Mr. Avery and Mr. Morgan should have full 
power to engage a suitable horse ' ' to be emploied in 
fetching up Mr. Bradstreet," and the town voted to 
fulfill any agreement which they might make. 
Later ten shillings were voted "to Goodman Prentice 
for his horse," and 15 lb. "to Goodman Royce for 
ye minister's dyet." From these votes it appears 
that Deacon Park's intercessions had prevailed, and 
that Mr. Bradstreet had accepted the call. It was 
also "voted that a Towne rate of 40 lb. be made 
immediately for ye payment of Towne depts and pro- 
viding to acomadate a minister and repareing the 
meeting house." Thus all the preparations were 
completed for the commencement of Mr. Bradstreet's 
ministry. 

At the meeting, at which the foregoing arrange- 
ments were made, it was voted that "John Smith 
and goodman Nichols shall receive contribution every 
Lord's daye and preserve it for ye publick good." 
August 15, 1667, is a similar vote worth preserving : 
' ' Myself e [Douglas] chosen to hold the box for con- 
tributions and this to be propounded to Mr. Brad- 
street to have his advise therein. "Williams Nichols 
is also chosen for that worke." The contribution 
box is not a modern innovation. 



122 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

The journey from Boston to New London was a 
•greater undertaking then, when there was no road 
save a path through the wilderness, than now. 
Thirty years before it took Thomas Hooker and his 
company two weeks to go from Cambridge to Hart- 
ford; and their journey was over " a toilsome way, 
through a pathless wilderness, over mountains and 
across unbridged rivers, with only a compass for a 
guide." We have no reason to suppose that, in the 
spring of 1666, Mr. Bradstreet found the trip much 
shorter, or much more comfortable, than Thomas 
Hooker did in 1636. This little touch of history 
shows what it cost the fathers to lay the foundations, 
and of what stuff they were made. 

In pursuance of the vote to provide a place for the 
minister " to reside in at his coming," a lot was pur- 
chased of Mr. Douglas and Mrs. Grace Bulkeley, 
which lay south of the meeting house j that is, on 
the south side of what is now called Bulkeley Square. 
It will be remembered that Mrs. Bulkeley was the 
mother of Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, and that she 
removed to New London on the death of her husband, 
where she was a'house-holder during the ministry of 
her son. For the temporary use of Mr. Bradstreet 
the house vacated by Mr. Bulkeley was hired for one 
year from April 1, 1667, together with the orchard 
and six acre lot, for the sum of ten pounds. 



bradstreet' s pastorate. 123 

Mr. Bradstreet arrived in town early in May, 1666. 
June 1 of that year it was " voted by a Vnanimous 
consent that Mr. Bradstreet is acepted in ye worke 
of ye ministry amongst us, and that he have 80 lb. 
pr yeare to encourage him in the worke, to be gath- 
ered by: way of rate." It will be noticed that this 
sum is ten pounds larger than the limit allowed by 
the town to" Deacon Park. Evidently the new minis- 
ter proved quite as acceptable a preacher as had been 
anticipated. At the same meeting it was voted to 
build a house lt for ye ministry " immediately, on the 
lot purchased of Mr. Douglas and Mrs. Bulkeley, 
"the dimensions to be 36 foote in length and 25 in 
breadth and 13 studd betwixt ye joynts with a stack 
of stone chimneys in the midst. The house to be a 
girt house." The town voted to give 100 pounds for 
building the house, besides paying the " masons for 
building a stone chimney and glaze ye house win- 
dowes." The work was pushed forward with energy, 
and completed about September 3, 1668. It was the 
business of the whole town to erect it, and the people 
were often called together to vote as to various ques- 
tions, such as the size of the cellar, who should dig 
it, who should do the iron work, etc. When it was 
finished a committee was appointed to inspect the 
work, and the masons in particular were not to be 
paid till it was ascertained that the chimneys were 



124 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

sufficient. The cost came very nearly within the 100 
ponnds voted for the purpose. At the same meeting, 
June 1, 1666, it was voted that the house " built for 
the ministry," together with the house and land 
bought of Mr. Douglas, and the laud which " hith- 
erto hath been reserved for the ministry,' 7 shall 
remain so, nor " be sold or alienated to any other 
vse forever." It is scarcely necessary to say that 
this vote, on the death of Mr. Bradstreet, became a 
dead letter, as the property was sold to Nicholas Hal- 
lam in 1697. 

Mr. Bradstreet was now on the ground. In De- 
cember, 1667, a committee was appointed to secure 
his immediate ordination. But for reasons which do 
not appear this event did not take place till three 
years later — October 5, 1670. So that at his ordina- 
tion he had already been doing the work of the min- 
istry since some time in May, 1666 — over four years. 

The salary of 80 lb. a year voted to Mr. Brad- 
street, was soon raised to 90 pounds ' ' in current 
country pay, with firewood furnished, and the par- 
sonage kept in repair." This was soon increased 
again to 100 pounds, which was equal to the salary of 
the most noted ministers of New England at that 
date. 

In this connection the following votes are of inter- 
est, as showing the customs of those early times. 



bradstreet' s pastorate. 125 

"Sept. 9, 1669. In answer to Mr. Broadstreet's 
proposition for easing him in the ehardge of his wood 
the towne doe freely consent to help him therein, and 
some with carts and some for cutting and that next 
traineing daye a tyme be appoynted for accomplish- 
ment thereof and that LeifP Avery be deputed to 
nominate ye daye." Another vote is the following: 
" 16 Jan., 1670-1. Mr. Edward Palmes hath liber- 
ty granted to make a seat for himself and relations at 
ye north end of ye pulpitt. " From this vote it would 
seem that the first meeting house stood east and west, 
with sides to the north and south. Another vote, of 
the same date, to put galleries of the width of two 
seats, "on each side of ye meeting house," points to 
the prosperity of the Church under the new minister. 
As we shall see, even with this addition the house be- 
came too small for the increasing congregations. 
These facts, together with the material increase of 
his salary, justify the conclusion that Mr. Bradstreet 
was no ordinary preacher and pastor. 

After serving the Church a little over four years, 
he was formally inducted into the pastoral office by 
ordination. The diary of Thomas Miner says, "the 
ffift day" of October, 1670, " mr. broadstreet was 
ordayned." Mr. Bradstreet wrote in his own journal, 
" October 5, 1670, I was ordained by Mr. Bulkley 



126 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

(Gershom Bulkeley) and Mr. Haynes (Joseph Raynes 
of the First Church in Hartford) an established pas- 
tour of the Chh. of Christ at New London. The good 
Lord grannt I may so preach and so live, that I may 
save myself, and those who hear me." Miss Caulkins 
says, u this ordination was the first in town ; no pre- 
vious minister had been regularly settled. ' ' However, 
Mr. Blinman, as has been shown, was already an or- 
dained clergyman when he came to America in 1640, 
and was regularly chosen as pastor of the Church 
in 1642, when it was organized in Gloucester. So 
that while Mr. Bradstreet' s was the first ordination, 
Mr. Blinman was the first ordained minister on the 
ground in the full exercise of the duties of a pastor. 
As has been stated, Mr. Bradstreet began to keep 
the records of the Church, October 5, 1670. One of 
the entries says that children were baptized before 
that date ; but Mr. Bradstreet did not baptize them. 
For it was not deemed proper for an unordained per- 
son to administer the Sacraments. For example the 
Church in Plymouth was nine years without the ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper. Brewster, who 
acted as pastor, had never been ordained. He was 
only ruling elder, whose office included the duties of 
preacher, when occasion required ; but he was not 
authorized to administer the Sacraments. When the 
Church, desirous of sitting at their Lord's Table, pro- 



BRAD STREET'S PASTORATE. 127 

posed to Brewster that he should assume the right to 
officiate at it, he demurred, and wrote to John Rob- 
inson for advice. Robinson replied that he did not 
deem it lawful for him, being only a ruling elder, to 
do so, and quoted Rom. xii : 7,8 and I Tim. v : 17 in 
support of this view. We know that similar senti- 
ments governed the action of Mr. Bradstreet, for an 
entry in the diary of Thomas Miner reads : ' ' The 15 
[January, 1670-1] was the ffirst sacrament of the 
lord's supper administered by mr. broadstreet." 
This was three months after his ordination, and may 
point to the custom of celebrating this Sacrament 
quarterly. Mr. Miner's diary speaks of its continued 
observance from this date on. 

The names of those who composed the Church at 
Mr. Bradstreet's ordination, as recorded by him, may 
be found on page 41. He gives no names of those 
who were deacons at that date, but Thomas Park, 
John Smith, "William Douglas and "William Hough, 
without doubt, held that office. 

Following the list of members are the names of 
those added subsequently. In a number of instances 
the record reads u added and confirmed," or simply 
" confirmed." Thus Mr. Bradstreet records the fol- 
lowing, " confirmed, April 30, 1671, Clement Miner," 
afterwards deacon Miner ; ' ' added and confirmed May 
14, 1671, Gabriel Harris and his wife." What sig- 



128 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

nificance attached to the word " confirmed" in his 
niind we have no means o£ knowing. The last entry 
of accessions to the Church during his ministry is, 
"Sept. 10, 1682, Thomas Avery and wife were added 
to the Church." It was this man's son, Thomas, 
who was an original member of the Church in Mont- 
ville. Forty-three names are on the list of those who 
were added after his ordination — thirty-nine upon 
profession of faith, and four by letter. "We know 
that three whose names do not appear on any list, 
Goodman Rice, Lydia Bailey and Ruth Hill were re- 
ceived before his ordination, making an addition of 
forty-six during his ministry of seventeen years. Add 
these to the list at his ordination and we find that 
seventy-two was the total recorded membership of the 
Church during his pastorate. No additions were 
made between September 2, 1673, and August 26, 
1677 — a period of four years. Evidently the Church 
was in a low spiritual state. The cause is not certain. 
But the Rogerene movement, which began during his 
ministry, may have been responsible to some degree. 
The Half-way Covenant was crowding its way into the 
Churches of Connecticut, and may also have exerted 
some damaging influence upon this Church, even 
though the pastor did not practice it. 

Mr. Bradstreet recorded the baptism of 455 per- 
sons, mostly children ; 438 of his own Church, and 



129 

17 of other Churches, thus he records the baptism 
of the children of persons belonging to the Churches 
in Roxbury, in Hartford, in Ipswich, in Rehoboth, in 
Norwich, and in Lyme. Miss Caulkins says of the 
baptism of those belonging to his own' Church, that 
1 ' a considerable number were adults ; some parents 
being baptized themselves, at the time that they 
owned the covenant and presented their children for 
baptism." But there is no record of this kind dur- 
ing the ministry of Mr. Bradstreet; nor is there any 
evidence that he ever baptized a child, neither of 
whose parents were in full communion in the Church. 
On the contrary there is evidence the other way. 
Thus one of the entries upon the Church records, 
made by him, reads as follows : " The names of such 
as were called the children of the Church, viz., of 
such as had been baptized before Oct. 5, 1670, their 
parents one or both being in full communion." The 
pains which he takes to mention that one or both the 
parents of the children were in full communion, 
seems conclusive proof that he did not practice the 
Half-way Covenant. However, the baptized children 
of the Church were regarded as within its pale, by 
the terms of God's covenant with his people, but not 
entitled to its full privileges until conversion and 
public profession of faith in Christ. Thus it is 
recorded, "Aug. 14, 1681, Goodwife Geerey received 



130 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

into full communion." This cannot be understood 
as an action akin to the Half-way Covenant, but as 
receiving into full fellowship one who was a baptized 
child of the Church. 

Baptisms usually followed close upon births. In 
some cases not more than two or three days passed. 
Not only children, but also grandchildren, and serv- 
ants bound to apprenticeship, and slaves, might be 
presented by one who would give a pledge for their 
Christian education; that is, become a sponsor for 
them. Thus Mr. Bradstreet makes the following 
record, May 7, 1671: "Two servants of Mr. Doug- 
lass his, for whom he engaged, ye one being an Indian 
bought when a child ; and at his Disposal. I bap- 
tized her according to God's command in Genesis 
xvii, 12, 13 Elizabeth (the Indian) Mary." It 
must be borne in mind that Mr. Douglas, the spon- 
sor, or godfather, was a member of the Church, and 
one of its deacons. As early as 1634 a member of 
the Church in Dorchester desired baptism for a 
grandchild, neither of whose parents were members 
of the Church. The advice of the Church in Boston 
was sought. It was given in these words : " We do 
therefore profess it to be the judgement of our 
Church * * * that the grandfather, a member 
of the Church, may claim the privilege of baptism to 
his grandchild, though his next of seed, the parents 



bradstreet's pastorate. 131 

of the child, be not received themselves into Church 
covenant." [Dunning, p. 172.] It also appears on 
the records of the Church, during the ministry of Mr. 
Bradstreet, that men presented their children for 
baptism, on the account of their wives who were in 
full communion. All the facts go to show that, in 
the matter of the baptism of children, Mr. Bradstreet 
held with Hooker, Davenport and others, that only 
the children of " visible saints " should be baptized. 

There is no record of marriages by Mr. Bradstreet. 
Previous to 1680, marriage was regarded solely as a 
civil rite throughout New England. The ceremony 
was, therefore, performed by the civil magistrate, or 
by a person specially qualified by the Colonial author- 
ities. Hutchinson says that, previous to 1684 "in 
Massachusetts there was no instance of a marriage by 
a clergyman during the existence of their first char- 
ter." Neale says "all marriages in New England 
were formerly performed by the civil magistrate." 
If a clergyman officiated, the ordinance was made 
valid by a civil officer. After 1680, or about that 
time, clergymen had the right, under the law, to 
perform the marriage ceremony. 

The next item of importance relating to this pas- 
torate is the building of a new house of worship to 
take the place of the Blinman meeting house which 
had served twenty-five years, was insufficient for the 



132 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

needs of the growing town, and was going into decay. 
The town held a meeting in February, 1677-8, at 
which it was voted to build a new house by the side 
of the old one, the latter to be kept for use till the 
new house was completed. The work was contracted 
to be done in October, 1680, but it lingered for sev- 
eral years. The building committee were Captain 
Avery, Charles Hill and Thomas Beeby, who pro- 
cured the timber, and made all preparations to pro- 
ceed with the work. But a strong party favored an 
entirely new spot, ' ' on Hempstead street at the 
southwest corner of Broad street." A vote was ob- 
tained to build on this new site. However, the dis- 
satisfaction, especially among those on the east side 
of the river, was so great, that another meeting of 
the town was called April 19, 1679, to reconsider the 
subject. The following conciliatory action was 
taken : ' ' The town sees cause for avoiding future 
animosities, and for satisfaction of our loving neigh- 
bors on the east side of the river to condescend that 
the new meeting house shall be built near the old, 
Mr. Bradstreet having spared part of his lot to be 
made him good on the other side, for the accommo- 
dation of this work; but that the vote above [i. e. 
before taken] was and is good in law, and irrevo- 
cable, but by the loving consent of neighbors is 
altered, which shall be no precedent for future alter- 



bradstreet's pastorate. 133 

ing any town vote." And so a difference, which. 
was likely to prove serious, was amicably adjusted, 
and the place of worship was yet to remain on the old 
site for over one hundred years. The second, or 
Bradstreet, meeting house was therefore built near 
the old one, probably just west of it, on the south- 
west corner of what was called Meeting House 
Green, now Bulkeley Square. As part of the ground 
for the new house was taken from Mr. Bradstreet's 
lot, his house must have stood near the southwest 
corner of the square ; presumably near the spot now 
occupied by the house of Hon. Stephen A. Gardner. 

It is not strange that the people on the east side of 
the river looked with disfavor upon even the least 
increase of their Sabbath day journeys. It was no 
small matter that they were obliged to travel a long 
distance and cross the river, and climb the hill 
through Richards street to the old place of worship. 
It was not always possible to cross the river. Thomas 
Miner, in his diary, records that "Sabbath day the 7 
[Jan., 1654] I was at Pequit river and could not get 
over." Their opposition to the new site, farther 
away, was not without reason, and their wish justly 
prevailed with the majority. 

The early New Englanders had a love for a Church 
set on a hill, as the white towers of many a town 
pointing heavenward from many a hilltop abundantly 



134 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

prove. It may be because Jesus taught that his 
Church is to be like a city set on a hill; and also 
because, from its commanding position, it served both 
as a beacon and a watch-tower. Miss Caulkins says 
of the Blinman meeting house, what was also true of 
the Bradstreet meeting house, that "the cupola now 
became the lookout post of the watchman, and this 
rendered it a useful as well as an ornamental adjunct 
of the Church. The sentinel, from this elevated 
tower, commanded a prospect in which the solemnity 
of the vast forest was broken and relieved by touches 
of great beauty." The Hon. Augustus Brandegee 
tells us that the ' ' early worshippers ascended from 
all parts of the town on each Sabbath, armed with 
Bible in one hand and the old flint-lock in the other, 
prepared to do valiant service against the Indians, 
the World, the Flesh, or the Devil, as occasion might 
require." But Captain John Mason had long ago 
settled the case of the Indians, so that Mr. Brad- 
street's congregation, unless we except the year 1675, 
could give its entire attention to the World, the 
Flesh and the Devil, neither of which were lacking 
then, as they are not now. 

The meeting house was still to stand on the hill, 
overlooking the town. Still might the people sing — 
"Tbehillof Zion yields 

A thousand sacred sweets." 



135 

Still could they say, " Beautiful for situation, the joy 
of the whole Earth is Mount Zion." 

The contract was let to John Elderkin and Samuel 
Lothrop. They were allowed a year and a half to 
build the house. " It was to be forty feet square j 
the studs twenty feet high with a turret answerable j 
two galleries, fourteen windows, three doors ; and to 
set up on all the four gables of the house, pyramids 
comely and fit for the work, and as many lights in 
each window as direction should be given ; * * * 
£240 to be paid in provision, viz. in wheat, pease, 
pork, and beef in quantity proportional ; the town to 
find nails, glass, iron- work, and ropes for rearing ; 
also to boat and cart the timber to the place, and pro- 
vide sufficient help to rear the work." 

The finishing of the meeting house lingered. Re- 
peated orders were voted concerning it. The pulpit 
was removed to it from the old house when the work 
was sufficiently advanced, and the new house seems 
to have been used in an unfinished state. The build- 
ers were accused of not keeping their contract. John 
Frink of Stonington and Edward deWolf of Lyme, 
were called in to arbitrate between the contractors 
and the town. September 6, 1682, two years after 
the house should have been finished, the town took 
vigorous action, and voted " that the meeting house 
shall be completed and finished to worship God in j 



136 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

according to conformity of duty of Church and Town, 
and Town and Church. 77 At last the house was com- 
pleted late in 1682, but not soon enough for Mr. 
Bradstreet to preach in it long, if at all ; for his 
health had already begun to fail, and he died the next 
year. 

During the building of the Church the parsonage 
was repaired, at the expense of the town, according 
to contract with Mr. Bradstreet. il One hundred 
acres of land in one entire piece, 77 were voted to 
u Mr. Thomas Parkes, Senior, 77 to remunerate him for 
furnishing u cedar clapboards, 77 nails and work "for 
the parsonage house. 77 Though this was called the 
parsonage, and the town house, and was to be kept in 
repair by the town, it had been given to Mr. Brad- 
street in fee simple, and was his property. 

In 1680 Mr. Bradstreet 7 s health began to decline. 
In August of the next year he proposed to resign. 
But the people declined to accept his resignation, and 
added ' ' the town is willing to allow him comfortable 
maintenance as God shall enable them, and they will 
wait God 7 s providence in respect to his health. 77 His 
salary had been £100 a year. But at the same meet- 
ing it was " voted to allow him £120 a year in provis- 
ion pay, and also to find him his fire- wood, ninety 
loads for the ensuing year. 77 This was most gener- 
ous provision for a pastor who was likely never to be 



137 

able to serve them more, and is conclusive proof of 
the strong hold which he had upon his people. 

The Rogerene movement had its beginnings during 
the ministry of Mr. Bradstreet. James Rogers was a 
member of this Church. He was received into it, 
soon after Mr. Bradstreet' s ordination, by letter from 
the Church in Milford. He is said to have been an 
upright, circumspect man. But in 1676 he and his 
sons were fined for profanation of the Sabbath, and 
for neglect of public worship, and were put under a 
bond of £10 each. This was repeated for a long 
course of years. It was at this time, 1676, that James 
Rogers and his wife left Mr. Bradstreet 7 s Church to 
join the Sabbatarians, at Newport. Miss Caulkins 
says, u there is no account of any dealings with him 
and his wife on account of their secession from Mr. 
Bradstreet' s Church." After a time John, who had 
also joined the Sabbatarians, withdrew from them, 
and promulgated notions peculiarly his own. May 
25, 1675, Mr. Bradstreet writes concerning him in 
his diary: " John Rogers of N. London, aged aboute 
28 (not many months before turned a proud Anabap- 
tist) was arraigned at Hartford, at ye court of 
Assistants vpon tryall of his life. * * * The tes- 
timony agst him was his own wife (a prudent, sober 
young woman), to whom he told it with his own 
mouth, and not in trouble of mind, but in a boasting 



138 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

manner of free grace yt he was pardoned. This was 
mvch about ye time yt he fell into yt cursed opinion 
of Anabaptisme." October 26, 1676, the General 
Court granted his wife a divorce, and the custody of 
the children, since he continued "in his evill prac- 
tices." [Col. Records 1678-89, p. 144.] It is evi- 
dent from all these facts, and Mr. Bradstreet's em- 
phatic words, that the beginnings of the Rogerene 
movement took place during his ministry, and that it 
was a source of annoyance to him. A further and 
fuller account of it will be found in a subsequent 
chapter. 

In 1664 a house of worship was built in the eastern 
portion of the parish. Mr. James Noyes came from 
Newbury, Mass., about September 8 of that year, and 
preached ten years as a licentiate, till June 3, 1674, 
when a Church was gathered in what was then called 
Southerton, but is now known as Stonington, and Mr. 
Noyes was ordained as pastor Thursday, September 
10. [Thomas Miner.] It is now known as the 
Road Church. 

This was the final outcome of the controversy be- 
tween the people in Pequot and those residing in the 
eastern portion of the plantation, over the question 
of a new township, with its liberties and privileges. 
The territory, in which the new Church Avas gathered, 
was originally included in the parish of this Church. 



bradstreet's PASTORATE. 139 

Three at least of the charter members of this new 
organization had been members in New London, Mr. 
Thomas Miner, Captain Denison, and Mr. Thomas 
Stanton. [Diary of Thomas Miner.] Then the First 
Church in Stonington is the eldest daughter of the- 
First Church in New London, and its formation was 
one of the important events of Mr. Bradstreet's pas- 
torate. 

He kept a journal, entitled "a Breif Record of re- 
markable Providences and Acidents," which he began 
in 1664 and continued to August 10, 1683, when the 
last entry was made, not long prior to his death. One, 
which very nearly concerned him is the following : 
" July 12, 1666, while I was at N. London, my fath- 
er's house at Andover was burnt, where I lost my 
books and many of my clothes, to the value of 50 
or £60 at least. The Lord gaue and the Lord hath 
taken away, blessed bee the Name of the Lord. Tho 
my owne losse of books (and papers espec) was great 
and my father's far more, being about £800 ; yet ye 
Lord was pleased gratiously many wayes to make vp ye 
same to us. It is therefore good to trust in the Lord. ' ' 
Under date of May, 1669, he writes in his journal 
of the severe winter in Massachusetts, and adds," this 
year the Lord frowned much vpon the country, by 
sickness in divers places, espec in this Colony of Con- 
necticut. Divisions in Seuerall chhs ; Blastings of 



140 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

all sorts of grain that it was very scarce. Greater 
scarcity haueiug not been known for very many years. 7 ' 

In November, 1677, he records the prevalence of 
the small pox in and about Boston, of which " many 
dyed." October 31, 1678, was set apart by the Gen- 
eral Court of this Colony " as a day of publique 
thanksgiving to bless and prayse the Lord our God 
for his great goodness to his people manifested" in 
sparing the Colony this dread scourge, in continuing 
the gospel, in giving good health to the people, and 
in affording a bountiful harvest. October 4, 1679, 
Mr. Bradstreet records that u John Smith, one of ye 
deacons of this chh, a man of great piety and vse in 
chh and Town went to heaven." 

The year 1681 seems to have been one of great 
severity throughout the Colony. The October ses- 
sions of the General Court for that year was ad- 
journed without the usual order for a day of general 
thanksgiving. A foot note on p. 96 of the Colonial 
Records for 1678-1689 says that the omission was 
probably due to ' i the loss of the harvest and the sick- 
ness which was at that time prevalent." In his jour- 
nal Mr. Bradstreet makes this entry for 1681. u In 
the mo of June, July and August was a great drought 
thro the covntry to great losse in corn and grasse, 
valued at many thousand pounds, yet god hath gra- 
ciously left vs enough for a meat and drink offering. 



bradstreet's pastorate. 141 

Sept r & Octob r w r sickly in many places in this Colony; 
the disease was a malignant feaver o£ w ch many dyed. ' ' 
This fever evidently broke out again in 1683, as ap- 
pears from the last entry in his journal, made in 
August of that year, and quoted below. Another 
entry is as follows : "July 26, 1682, Mr. William 
Douglas one of ye deacons of this church dyed in ye 
72 year of his age. He was an able Christian and 
this poor chh will much want him . ' ' The last entry 
referred to above reads, "August 10, 1683, Will m 
Hough Deacon of this chh aged about 64 dyed. He 
was a solid man and his death is a great Losse to chh 
& Town. The same day, and not above 2 or 3 houres 
after, Elizabeth Raymond (Daniel Raymond his wife) 
aged about 26 or 27 dyed. Shee was for her Piety, 
Prudence &c a very desirable person and has left but 
few of her Age behind her like her. They both dyed 
of malignant feaver w ch was very severe thro : this 
Colony." The last Wednesday in October of that 
year was appointed by the General Court to ' ' be kept 
as a day of publique Thanksgiving throughout the 
Colony," to recognize the divine favor in abating 
"the sore sickness,' 7 in sparing "so much of the 
fruits of the feild and trees as we enjoy," and various 
other similar blessings, which our fathers were not 
slow in recognizing as coming from the hand of God. 
The last Wednesday of November, of the same year, 



142 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

was appointed to be observed as a day of fasting and 
prayer throughout the Colony. The reasons assigned 
were, some of them, ' ' the dispensation of God towards 
his poore wilderness people * * * and particu- 
larly towards o r selves in this Colony the present 
year by reason of the generall sickness in most places, 
and more than ordinary in some, as allso excessive 
rains and floods in severall plantations, shortening us 
in our outward injoyments," and the fact that many 
congregations and Churches were bereaved of a set- 
tled ministry. [Col. Records 1678-89 pp. 131, 132.] 
Before the Thanksgiving and the Fast Mr. Brad- 
street was in his grave, and his pastorate had ended; 
not by the will of the people, but of God, after a 
ministry of seventeen years and a pastorate of thir- 
teen years. As we have said, his decline in health 
began in 1680. The date of his death is nowhere 
given. But it can be approximately fixed. The last 
entry on the records of the Church, made by his 
hand, is as follows: "baptized August 12, 1683, 
William Potts his child Patience." November 19 of 
that year a vote of the town, to pay Mrs. Bradstreet 
the arears of her deceased husband's salary, is 
recorded. Then his death must have occurred 
between the two dates, and not long after the earlier 
one, at the age of 43. 



bradstreet's pastorate. 143 

The cause o£ his death is nowhere stated. But his 
long decline, the fact that he inherited weakness of 
the lungs from his mother, who writes of herself on 
one occasion, ' ' I fell into a lingering sickness like a 
consumption," and the fact that she finally died of 
this disease, justify the conclusion that he fell a vic- 
tim to it in the prime and promise of his manhood. 

No stone bears his name to mark the place of his 
burial. But Miss Caulkins well says " there can be 
no reasonable doubt that Mr. Bradstreet's remains 
were also deposited in that inclosure," the Town's 
Antientest Buriall Place. Miss Caulkins conjec- 
tures that his grave is covered by one of " two large, 
flat, granite stones, partly imbedded in the earth, 
near the center of the ground, which are supposed 
to have been laid as temporary memorials over the 
remains of some distinguished persons." If this 
conjecture cannot be proved, it cannot be disputed, 
and may be correct. At the time of his death it was 
difficult to procure engraved stones. Not long after, 
his family removed from New London. His house 
and lot were sold, and in due course of time his 
widow married Daniel Epes, of Ipswich, Mass. 
These facts help to explain the absence of a memo- 
rial slab to mark his grave. 

A record of this pastorate would be incomplete 
without a personal sketch of the man himself. Be- 



144 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

sides the journal from which we have quoted, he left 
what he entitled ' ' Remembrances of the greatest 
changes in my Life. 77 From this, and from his jour- 
nal, the following facts are obtained. He was the 
second son, not the eldest, as Miss Caulkins says, of 
Governor Simon Bradstreet, of Massachusetts. For 
he writes in his journal, "Sometime in August, 
1682, my dear brother Mr. Sam 11 Bradstreet dyed in 
Jamaica. He was ye first born, ye greater ye breach 
in o r family; but he is at rest in glory. 77 He 
writes in his u Remembrances, 77 "I was borne in N. 
England at Ipswitch, Septem. 28, being Munday, 
1640. 1651 I had my education in the same Towne, 
at the Free School, the master of w ch was my ever 
respected Friend, Mr. Ezekiel Cheevers. My father 
was removed from Ipsw. to Andover before I was putt 
to school, so yt my schooling was more chargeable. 
June 25, 1656, I was admitted to the Vniversity, Mr. 
Charles Chauncey being President. Anno 1660 I 
went out Bachelour of Artes and defended this Posi- 
tion, Omnes Artes Accidentur Theologiae. Anno 1663 I 
took my second degree, and went m r of Artes, at 
w ch time I defended this thesis, Biscrimen Boni et mail 
Cognoscitur a lege Naturae. May 1, 1666, I came to 
New London at the desire of the people, and advise 
of my Freinds, in order to a settlement in the minis- 
try. The good Lord fitt me for that, or what other 



bkadstreet's pastorate. 145 

service I may most glorify him in." Then follows 
the item, already quoted, which relates to and fixes 
the date of his ordination. 

His marriage was another important event in his 
life. He was married October 2, 1667, at Newbury,, 
Mass., to his cousin Lucy, the daughter of Rev. 
John Woodbridge, by his uncle, Maj. Gen. Daniel 
Denison. Mr. Woodbridge married his aunt Lucy 
Dudley, came to New England and settled at New- 
bury as a planter in 1634, and afterwards became a 
preacher, and was ordained as the first pastor of the 
North Church in Andoverin 1645. Maj. Gen. Den- 
ison married his aunt Patience Dudley, came to 
Cambridge in 1633, soon after removed to Ipswich, 
and was Maj. General in 1653. As marriages were 
performed by civil magistrates, Gen. Denison offi- 
ciated at the nuptials of his nephew and niece. Mrs. 
Bradstreet remained with her father at Newbury, to 
which he had returned after leaving his charge at 
Andover, till the spring of 1668, when, May 25, she 
accompanied her husband to New London. They 
boarded with Goodman Royse till September 3, when 
their house was ready to be occupied, and they began 
housekeeping. 

Five children were the fruit of this marriage. The 
first was a son, born August 2, 1669, who died when 
but five days old. The next was Simon, who was 



146 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

born March 7, and baptized March 12, 1670-1. 
When he was but three years old, he came near losing 
his life. Mr. Bradstreet thus records the fact in his 
u Remembrances : " "September 3, 1674, God was 
gratiously pleased to shew me mvch mercy in saving 
my eldest child (Symon) from eminent danger, being 
fallen into a well (tho shallow) up to his very chin, 
w r by had perished had not God's Provid c ordered 
it so timely we mist him. Blessed God giue us 
hearts for euer to remember this, and to return 
vnto thee accordingly. Dear Symon if god giue yee 
life to read and vnderstand this, I charge thee to ac- 
knowledge it to god's praise and blesse his name for 
svch a Deliuer c , that he did not cutt off thy life 
in ye bud. yt thov mayest Hue to know this and 
to walk answerably . ' ' Anne was the third child. She 
was born December 31, 1672, was baptized January 
5, 1673, and died October 2, 1681, about two years 
before her father, and of the same disease. John 
was the fourth child, and third son. He was born 
November 3, 1676, and was baptized two days later. 
Lucy was the fifth child and second daughter. She was 
born October 24, 1680, and was baptized the thirty- 
first of the same month. She married Hon. Jonathan 
Remington of Cambridge, and died April 18, 1743, 
aged sixty-three. 

Rev. Simon Bradstreet was of honorable descent. 



bradstreet's pastorate. 147 

Good blood ran in his veins. His grandfather was 
Rev. Simon Bradstreet of Horbling, England, was of 
a family of wealth, was a graduate of Cambridge 
and subsequently a fellow of Emanuel college of that 
university, and was a Puritan, known as " the ven- 
erable Mordecai of his country." His father was 
the Hon. Simon Bradstreet, who came to this country 
with Winthrop in 1630. He was chosen assistant to 
Winthrop before embarking, and continued in that 
office eighteen years. He was one of five to join the 
Church in Charlestown, on the first Sabbath in 
August, 1630. He was a strict Puritan, but voted 
against the extreme measures taken with the Salem 
witches, with the Quakers, with Ann Hutchinson, and 
with other offenders against the established order. He 
was deputy governor under Governor Leverett from 
1673 to 1679, when he succeeded to the gubernatorial 
chair. With the exception of 1687 and 1688, which 
belonged to the iron rule of Sir Edmund Andros, he 
was yearly elected Governor of Massachusetts till 
May, 1692. When the news was received at Boston 
that William had arrived in England, and that James 
II had fled, the people arose, seized Andros, and put 
him in prison, and Simon Bradstreet, then eighty-seven 
years old, and the only survivor of the old Puritan 
leaders, was again made Governor. He died March 
27, 1697, at the age of ninety-four. " He was a man 



148 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

of deep discernment whom neither wealth nor honor 
conld allure from duty. * * * Sincere in religion 
and pure in his life, he overcame and left the world." 
Such was the honored father of Key. Simon Brad- 
street of New London. 

His mother was Ann Dudley, daughter of Thomas 
Dudley, the second Governor of Massachusetts. She 
was a woman of remarkable 'gifts, and of a poetical 
turn of mind. She was the earliest female poet in 
America. She published a volume of poems, the first 
to be published in this country, which went through 
several editions. She left also a volume in manu- 
script, dedicated to her son, Simon, containing twen- 
ty-seven Meditations Divine and Moral, of a most 
practical and serviceable nature. Thus "The finest 
wheat hath the least bran, the purest honey the least 
wax, and the sincerest Christian the least self-love ; ' ' 
"Downy beds make drowsy persons, but hard lodging 
keeps the eyes open ; so a prosperous state makes a 
secure Christian, but adversity makes him consider." 
She died September 16, 1672, at about sixty years of 
age. Mr. Bradstreet makes this entry in his me- 
moirs on that date : ' ' My ever honoured and dear 
mother was translated to Heaven. Her death was 
occasioned by consvmption. * * * I being ab- 
sent from her lost the opportvnity of committing to 
memory her pious and memorable expressions vttered 



bradstreet' s pastorate. 149 

in her sicknesse. O yt ye good Lord would giue vnto 
me and mine a heart to walk in her steps, consider- 
ing what the end o£ her conversation was j yt so wee 
might one day hane a happy and glorious meeting.'' 
The Christian spirit of Ann Bradstreet left its stamp 
upon her son. Says Dr. Field, u it was the Chris- 
tian spirit of this noble-minded woman, that, without 
doubt, contributed most of all to form the character 
of one of our first ministers, Simon Bradstreet." 
"We must believe that the son of such parents, in a 
line of descent so conspicuous for its learning, its 
virtues, and its piety, inherited some of these rare 
qualities, and that, when he died a life of great 
promise was cut short. 

Extracts from three letters are appended which 
were written to the Rev. Increase Mather of Boston 
by Mr. Bradstreet. The first is as follows : 

"N. London, April 20th, 1681. 
Rev d S r - I think I never sent you my thanks for your last 
letter and your book against the Anabaptists, if not it is now 
time to doe it. I remember in your letter you say, that you 
doe not vnderstand of any in your parts against the Xtian 
Sabbath, I believe there are far more then you are aware of, 
and most Anabaptists I have known either deny it, or qvstion 
it. However, if there was a fair opportunity, I think some 
elucubrations of that nature might bee of great vse ; I am apt 
to think among good Christians there is not one in a hundred 
able to maintain the Xtian Sabbath with any strength. Their 
vsuall arg ts , are, practice of the chhs & Xt's Resurrection, both 
of which are good & from both an idle sophister would drive 
them, & run them into a hundred absurdities. Three sheets 



150 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

of paper, well filled by a dextrous & able hand to prove the 
change, under these three heads, Deticito, that it may ; Be jure, 
that it ought ; De facto, that it is ; 1 am apt to think would 
profit the world more then all Dr. Owen, M r - Baxter, M r - 
Hughes, etc. , have written, tho : they deserve more then thankes 
for their paines. But I have forgot myself. S r I have read 
your sermon, occasioned by the dreadful Comet, and now ac- 
cording to my wonted manner send to begge one (that I saw 
being only upon loan), haveing not hitherto mett with any re- 
pulse, which is no small encouragement to beggars. Whatever 
you print, I ever promise myself an interest in. You have 
made me so to believe. 

ffor newes wee have the same you have, & as late as last 
Ffriday, by one that came then from Boston. I am not fond to 
believe what is said at present, if any strange reports should 
abuse or impose upon my reason, it is only because it is en- 
graven with a pen of iron & the point of a diamond vpon my 
spirit [& has been so for seuerall yettres) that dreadfull times 
are coming upon our Nation iu a speciall manner, tho : doubt- 
less Calamityes enough upon all Christendom at least, ffor 
ourselves here. I am far from thinking wee shall bee at rest 
in the evil day. it was so formerly, but things were not then 
as they are now. I am sorry the great Conservators of your 
priviledges, &c. in the Bay, are m-king rods for their own 
backs. & the backs of others. Some say my ffather is to be 
layd by this elect n as too great a friend to Caesar, not caring 
for or regarding the concerns of your R. publ, &c. I think 
they can not doe him a greater kindnes. God forbid the 
reines of that poor Colony should be under his hand. P. T. 
in the X. West, with others of the same complexion, that have 
skill to guide a plow-tail, may bee the fittest men to steer a 
C[ommon] Wealth. I well remember in Borne of old, some 
were fetchd from the plow to lead an army; £ so vice versa, 
<k why not as good now? It is plain wee need no enemyes 
to conspire our rvine. Our sins and follies will doe it too 
fast. S r - pray let me vnderstand by the bearer what newes 
you have from England by private letters, <fcc. Perhaps some 
ships will bee arrived before his return, & please to comvnicate 
your thoughts of your own affaires, both with reference to 



151 

England and among your selves. I would fain know how that 
cursed Bratt Toleration is favored by your new Justices, & 
whether the old stand firm &c. I have made much inqviry 
but have had no satisfactory answer. S r ' I mvst not adde at 
present, but my own & wives hearty love & service to 
yourself & good cosen (to which pray giue the inclosed) 
hoping yov never forgett us for the best things in the best 
place, & so rest Dear Sir 

Yours in great truth, S: Bradstreet. 

I am at present, I thank God, indifferent well, but far from 
well, God knowes, and whether I shall ever have the health I 
have had is with him who healeth all our diseases, who sends 
forth His word & does it. M r - Ffitch (of Norwich) is very 
infirm; has not preached many times this winter, not at all of 
late. If God should remove him it would bee a great blow to 
the Colony, & the ruine, almost, of that town. The death, 
sickness and infhmitiey of so many ministers has an awfull 
aspect with it. S r ' you will not forgett him in your prayers; 
— nor poor me, not to bee named with him." 

In March or April, 1683, he wrote again, as fol- 
lows: 

" R D & Dear S r — My weak hand (through my abiding indis- 
position) will not suffer me to write many lines. I received 
the verses and Almanacks you sent, and thank yourself & 
my cosen your sonne. I think his verses were in time and 
tune, and his Almanack too, only I must confesse I see (tho: I 
well know what is said by some) no religion in Hebrew mo ths 
nor irreligion in calling a vessell Castor & Pollux, &c. * * * 

S r ' wee have no newes here but what comes from you, and 
some of it as to Cranfeild's motions, &c, hath an ill aspect, 
but I hope He that sitts in Heaven will turn all such counsells 
into foolishnes. If wee can keep God our freind, no matter 
who are our enemies. But I fear this is our great wound ; 
wee are making God our enemy, & that upon many accounts 
too long to write. I think now, if ever, it's time for N. E. espi- 
cially for magistrates & Ministers to putt on all the armour 
of God, that they may stand in the evil day, & not to desert 



152 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

or betray the cause they have so long espoused. Sir, I cannot 
adde at present but my own & wife's service to yourself & 
Cosen, with respects to my cosens your children, desiring your 
dayly remembrance, of me in my weak & low estate, & so 
rest, Dear Sir. Yours in much truth, 

S. Beadsteeet. 

S r I hope you will send mee by the first your discourse 
about Cometts with your Sermon upon the last Comett. 

Please to keep the papers safe, I send, for if they obtain no 
Imprimatur, I have promised to return them. 

S r > The author of these papers is an Englishman, but born 
in France, & as he told me, he lived in Paris near twenty 
years before he knew any other place. I note this only that 
yov would excuse some words which are neither good French 
nor English." 

The last letter is as follows : 

"To the Rev d Mr. Increase Mather, Teacher of a Ch h of 
Christ in Boston : 

N. London, April 24, 83. 

R D & Deae S r > — Yours of April the 2d with the books to 
myself and Mr. Fitch and the letters, I received last night. I 
shall take the very first opportunity to send Mr. Ffitch his 
book & the letter. S r > I am your great debtor, upon these 
accounts, & desire to bee so still. I believe this discourse 
you sent me will have as serious and solemn an influence upon 
those who read it, as many practicall Sermons in larger volu. 
I am glad Any putt it into your heart to spend some time on 
such a subject, & think you deserve more then thankes for 
the paines you have taken. ***** 

Before this comes to your haDds you will hear of the death 
of our governor. [William Leete, who died April 16, 1683, & 
was succeeded by Hon. Fitz-John Winthrop.] God is able to 
make up our losse, but our choice runs very low, both as to 
Governor, &c. 

Sir, what you mention as to speciall providences in this Col- 
ony, &c, I suppose you have an account already. As to this 
pticular place, I could send you many things (having for many 



bradstreet's pastorate. 153 

years kept such a Journall), but many of them, and the most 
considerable, reflect so much upon surviving friends & rela- 
tions, that I doe not account it prudent to meddle in them ; 
yet I purpose (if I live a few weeks) to send yov one or two (if 
not more) of very solemn providences in this place. My 
weaknes and hast of the messenger, will Dot suffer it now. 

S r > let me hear often from you, what newes you have, &c. 
As to evil times coming on vs, and the world, &c, I believe no 
two persons in the world are more agreed. Pray for me & 
mine. I am yours, 

S. B." 



VII. 

MEMBERSHIP FROM 1642 TO 1683, 



The early membership of this Church is involved 
in as great obscurity as its origin. But the fact that 
there was a Church before 1670, implies that there 
were members before that date. The earliest known 
list was made October 5, 1670, and has been given 
in Chapter III. The aim of this chapter will be, to 
supplement this earliest list, by the names of those, 
who were manifestly members of the Church before 
that date, as we gather them from various sources. 

All that we know about this early membership is 
obtained from contemporaries. For example, we 
know from the testimony of Johnson's "Wonder- 
working Providence, that there were about fifty mem- 
bers at its organization in 1642. We know the 
names of some of these people, and have reason to 
believe that they were among the charter members of 
the Church. However, there is no official record, 
and we are therefore left to the evidence which con- 
temporaries give for material to make a list of those 
who were members prior to October 5, 1670. 



EARLY MEMBERSHIP. 155 

Nor do we know who were the chief promoters of 
the movement which resulted in the organization of 
this Church. It certainly would not be far wide of 
the mark to say that the men, who were prominent 
in town affairs in Gloucester and in Pequot, had a 
leading hand in bringing to pass its organization, 
with Richard Blinman as its pastor. Most, if not all, 
the original fifty members, whoever they were, fol- 
lowed their pastor to Pequot in 1651, or soon after. 
So that we know that it had about fifty members 
when it was transplanted from Gloucester to New 
London. 

The diary of Thomas Miner speaks of certain per- 
sons as members and officers of the Church between 
1651 and 1670. He also gives definite information 
concerning some who joined the Church within this 
period. An entry, made upon the records by Mr. 
Bradstreet, speaks of certain persons who were mem- 
bers of the Church, who had their children baptized 
before October 5, 1670. On that date he gives a list 
of persons who were then ' ' of the Church of New 
London in full communion." 

Let us begin with this list to prosecute our search. 
On it are the names of twenty-four persons who were 
members "of the Church now being, October 5, 
1670; " from which we infer that they were mem- 
bers before that date. A subsequent entry states 



156 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

that Lydia Bailey and Ruth. Hill were received 
into the Church February 12, 1670. July 27 of 
the same year Thomas Miner records in his diary 
that Mr. Rice and William Hough were received 
into the Church. Mr. Hough's name is on Mr. 
Bradstreet's list. Then we know that at the time of 
Mr. Bradstreet's ordination, three other names should 
have been added to his list, unless Mr. Rice's connec- 
tion with the Church had been discontinued ; and we 
know that these twenty-seven were members before 
October 5, 1670. 

Another entry upon the records of the Church 
reads, "the names of such as were children of the 
Church, viz., of such as had been baptized before 
October 5, 1670, their parents, one or both being in 
full communion," at the time of the baptism. This 
entry proves conclusively that there were Church 
members in full communion before this date. Be- 
sides the children of Lieutenant James Avery, whose 
names are not given, is a list of "persons baptized 
from February 1, 1670." It is as follows: "Bap- 
tized February 12 these 18 persons. Goodwife Bai- 
ley," who on that day united with the Church, "and 
her children John, William; Mr. Pickett's children 
John, Mary, Ruth, Mercy, William; Mr. Hill's child 
Jane ; Joshua Hempstead, Elizabeth, his wife, Phebe, 
his child; Joseph Morgan's wife Dorothy, her sister, 



EARLY MEMBERSHIP. 157 

Alice Parker; James Avery's wife Deborah; Sam- 
uel Rogers, his children Samuel, Mary; the widow 
Bradley's daughter Lucretia; baptized February 19, 
1670, four children of Goodwife Bailey's, Thomas, 
Mary, James, Joseph; baptized February 26, 1670, 
Jno. Henry's child Susanna." From this list we 
know that three of these were members of the Church 
before October 5, 1670, namely, Lieutenant James 
Avery, whose name is on Mr. Bradstreet's list, and 
Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Hill, whose names are not on his 
list. Mrs. Hill was the widow of John Pickett, who 
died August 16, 1667. After his death his wife 
married Mr. Charles Hill. She joined the Church on 
the day when the children of Mr. Pickett and Mr. 
Hill were baptized, to which the rite of baptism was 
doubtless administered on her account. Joshua 
Hempstead and his wife joined the Church April 3, 
1681. This and the case of Samuel Rogers are the 
only ones that can possibly be regarded as looking 
like the practice of the Half-way Covenant. But 
these were previous to Mr. Bradstreet's ordination, 
and he could not have administered the rite. Joseph 
Morgan's wife was Dorothy Parker, and she joined 
the Church June 28, 1671. From this list of bap- 
tisms of children, one or both of whose parents were 
in full communion, we have not only three who we 
know were members of the Church, but also several 



158 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

whom we have a right to suppose were, although 
their names appear on no list, namely, Mr. and Mrs. 
Samuel Rogers, one or both, Mrs. Bradley, the 
daughter of Jonathan Brewster, and afterwards Mrs. 
Christopher Christophers, and Mr. and Mrs. John 
Henry, one or both. But as their membership can- 
not be established beyond a doubt, we shall not in- 
clude them in the list which we are seeking to make 
of persons who were members previous to October 5, 
1670. 

On Wednesday. June 30, 1669, Thomas Miner 
wrote in his diary, ' ' I was at New London and had 
testimony ffrom the church ffor me and my wife being 
owned to be under their watch." This testimony 
was signed on behalf of the Church by "James 
Averie and William Douglas." Then on that date 
Thomas Miner and his wife, James Avery and William 
Douglas, were members of this Church. 

Again Mr. Miner writes, " thursday the 17 [of 
June 1658] Captaine Denison, mr. Stanton, goodman 
Cheesboro was heare to bid me come to a meeting." 
As Mr. Stanton, Captain Denison and Thomas Miner 
were among the charter members of the first Church 
in Stonington, we may conclude that they, with James 
Morgan and Mr. Cheesboro were members of this 
Church June 17, 1658. James Morgan and wife, 



EARLY MEMBERSHIP. 159 

and Thomas Miner and wife are on the list of October 
5, 1670. 

Again Mr. Miner writes in his diary "thursday 
the 15 [January 1656-7] I was at Towne the day after 
the fast when we met about Captaine Denison and 
other recommended brethren and sisters and the leters 
came from Mr. Blackman and Mr. Fitch." These 
must have been letters of recommendation to this 
Church from Rev. Adam Blackman of Stratford, and 
Rev. James Fitch of Saybrook. Who the "other 
recommended brethren and sisters " were we do not 
know, but we do know, from Mr. Miner's diary, that 
they were received into the Church at that date. 

As early as 1655 Thomas Park was a deacon of 
this Church. We may suppose that he was a mem- 
ber of it before that date. To his name I add the 
name of his wife, who was probably a sister of Mrs. 
Blinman, and the names of his father, Robert Park, 
and his mother. For a man, two of whose sons were 
deacons, would himself be likely to be a member of a 
Church. Robert Park's sons William of Roxbury, 
Mass., and Thomas of New London, both held that 
office. 

It will be rememberd that Thomas Miner says that, 
August 28, 1654, he was " sent for to be reconciled 
to the church," on account of his " rash speaking to 
Mr. Blinman." He states that the meeting was 



160 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

held at the house of Goodman Caulkins, and that 
there were present the following, who constituted 
"the major part" of the Church, namely: "Mr. 
Blinman, Mr. Bruen, Goodman Morgan, Goodman 
Caulkins, Ralph Parker, Goodman Lester, Goodman 
Coit, Hugh Roberts, Captain Denison, and Goodman 
Cheeseboro," besides Thomas Miner himself. Then 
these eleven men, and doubtless their wives, were 
members of the Church August 28, 1654. 

Then the following is a partial list of the members 
of this Church between 1651 and October 5, 1670. 
Besides the names given on Mr. Bradstreet's list [see 
chap, iii] are these: Mrs. Ruth Hill, Lydia Bailey, 
Goodman Rice, Thomas Stanton, George Denison, 
Goodman Cheeseboro, Obadiah Bruen, Goodman 
Caulkins, Goodman Coit, Goodman Lester, Hugh 
Roberts, Robert Park. Thomas Park, John Tinker, 
who was accustomed to hold deacon's meetings in the 
absence of the pastor ; and those who were received 
by letter January 15, 1656-57, of whom there were 
at least four. If we add the wives of these men, as 
there is every reason for doing, the number of people 
who were members of this Church before October 5, 
1670, but whose names do not appear on any list, was 
at least twenty- eight. Add to these Mr. Bradstreet's 
list, and we shall have at least fifty who were mem- 
bers of the Church between 1651 and the date when 



EAELY MEMBERSHIP. 161 

that list was made. There is reason to believe that 
all the adults who came from Gloucester with Mr. 
Blinman, like Obadiah Bruen were members of the 
Church. In that case the membership before October 
5, 1670, was much larger. 

It was the way of the godly men and women of 
those times to connect themselves with the Church 
without delay. One of the first things which John 
Winthrop, Sr. did on arriving in this country was, 
to unite in forming a Church in Charlestown, Mass., 
of which he became a member. We believe that his 
son John Winthrop, Jr., followed his example and 
became a member of this Church. The early list, if 
it could be completed certainly, we believe, would be 
an illustrious one. 



VIII. 

THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 

During the period which this history covers, those 
religious forces, which affected the growth of the 
Churches of those early times, were beginning to 
make themselves felt. Among these forces was the 
Half-way Covenant. Its deleterious influence upon 
spiritual life, was so marked, especially iD the period 
following 1683, that a brief statement of it seems a 
fitting introduction to what is to follow. Although 
the practice of it did not begin here until Mr. Salton- 
stall's pastorate, yet it was in the air, was a growing 
evil, was practiced by most of the leading Churches 
of the Colony, and was likely, as the sequel proved, 
to be adopted as the practice of this Church. It 
wrought havoc among the Churches, until, after more 
than a century, it ceased. Revivals were almost 
wholly unknown where it prevailed, and where re- 
vivals of power occurred it usually almost, if not 
altogether, disappeared. The two could not well 
exist together. 

It well may be called the Connecticut plan. For 
the feeling in its favor was specially strong through- 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 163 

out this Colony. It practically had its beginning in 
Hartford. Its first most violent outbreak was in a 
quarrel over a successor to Thomas Hooker, which 
lasted for several years. It " finally resulted in the 
withdrawal of a number of members of that Church, 
and the formation of a new settlement at Hadley, 
Mass." Clark, in his Congregational Churches of 
Massachusetts, says that Rev. John Russell, of 
Wethersfield, took strong ground against the new 
way, and, in carrying out his views, was reprimanded 
by the magistrates for alleged irregularity in excom- 
municating a member of his Church. Differences 
arose which resulted in his going, with many of his 
flock, and with some from Hartford, to Hadley. In 
writing about it to Governor Winthrop, June 14 
[24], 1666, John Davenport, whom Dr. Bacon styles 
11 the stiff old Congregationalist," said, "I feel at 
my heart no small sorrows for the public divisions 
and distractions at Hartford. Were Mr. Hooker now 
in vivis, it would be as a sword in his bones that the 
Church which he planted there should be thus dis- 
turbed by innovations brought in and urged so vehe- 
mently by his young successor in office, not in spirit; 
who was so far from these lax ways that he opposed 
the baptizing of grandchildren by their grandfathers' 
right." "But he is at rest; and the people there 
grow woefully divided, and the better sort are ex- 



164 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ceedingly grieved, while the looser and worser party- 
insult, hoping that it will be as they would have it, 
viz., that the plantation shall be brought into a parish 
way, against which Mr. Hooker hath openly borne a 
strong testimony in print. The most of the churches 
in this jurisdiction [the old New Haven Colony] are 
professedly against this new way, both in judgment 
and practice, upon gospel grounds, namely, New 
Haven, Milford, Stratford, Branford, Guilford, 
Norwalk, Stamford, and those nearer to Hartford, 
namely, Farmington and the sounder portion of 
Windsor, together with their reverend pastor, Mr. 
Warham, and I think Mr. Fitch and his church 
also. ' ' It is likely that Mr. Davenport suspected that 
his friend, the Governor, favored the innovation. At 
any rate the next year, in 1667, he accepted a call to 
the First Church in Boston, where a large majority 
favored his views ; for after the union of New Haven 
with Connecticut he was unwilling to remain, because 
these new, and as he believed, loose practices prevailed. 
For a similar reason Abraham Pierson, of Branford, 
and a majority of his people removed to Newark, 
N. J., in the spring of 1666. The Stratford Church 
was divided by a quarrel over the same subject, and 
the result was the planting of a new town at Wood- 
bury. The calling of Mr. Davenport to Boston resulted 
in the division of the First Church there. Twenty- 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 165 

eight male members withdrew, who, by the aid of an 
ex parte council, formed what has long been known as 
The Old South, May 12, 1669. These facts are given 
to show how high the spirit of controversy ran ; and 
it was especially strong in Connecticut. It grew 
stronger and waxed more hot till, as Dr. Bacon 
says [Eccl. Hist, of Conn., p. 29], " gradually the 
Churches, weary of contention, fell into the new way 
for the sake of peace." There are no records except 
the list of baptisms and the list of admissions, to show 
the attitude of this Church upon this question. But 
when the pastorate of Mr. Saltonstallfbegan, we find 
that the new way had gained a foothold. 

This new way was known as the Presbyterial way. 
The Churches were gathered in New England upon 
the theory of ' ' the personal regenerate character of 
all the members," which was known as the Congrega- 
tional way. Thomas Hooker stated this way in these 
words, "visible saints only are fit matter appointed 
by God to make up a visible church of Christ." It 
was at this point that the Puritans and Separatists 
took issue with the prevailing ecclesiastical system of 
England. The new way, says Dr. Bacon, " was old 
in the old world but new in New England. It was 
the system of all national churches, and therefore of 
the Presbyterian party in the Long Parliament and 
the "Westminster Assembly. It was what Davenport 



166 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

called the ' Parish way' — a system under which the 
local church, as a covenanted brotherhood of souls 
renewed by the experience of God's grace, was to be 
merged in the parish ; and all persons of good moral 
character living within parochial bounds, were to 
have, as in England and Scotland, the privilege of 
baptism for their households, and access to the Lord's 
Table." [Eccl. Hist, of Conn., pp. 28, 29.] It is to 
be understood that this refers to persons who laid no 
claim to regenerate character. It was a complete 
setting aside of Christ's declaration that, unless men 
are born again they can not enter the kingdom of God. 
Says Dr. George Leon Walker, " all the baptized 
persons of an English, German, or Genevan Parish, 
were accounted members of the there existing church, 
even if manifestly destitute of Christian character." 
This was the abuse from which our fathers fled to 
these shores, to set up here a state, and a church, in 
which only men of avowedly Christian experience and 
character should have a voice. It obliterated, so they 
believed, all distinction between the Church and the 
world. It did not come over on the Mayflower. It 
was a later importation. It so seriously threatened 
the Churches that, in 1668, the legislature of Con- 
necticut appointed four ministers, James Fitch of 
Norwich, Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield, Joseph 
Eliot of Guilford, and Samuel Wakeman of Fair- 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 167 

field, to meet at Saybrook, " to consider of some 
expedient for our peace, by searching out the rule y 
and thereby clearing up how far the Churches and 
people may walk together within themselves, and one 
with another, in the fellowship and order of the Gos- 
pel, notwithstanding some various apprehensions 
among them in matters of discipline respecting mem- 
bership and baptism." At least Mr. Bulkeley was 
for the ' ' Presbyteriall way, ; ' while Mr. Fitch, and Mr. 
Eliot were for the " Congregational way." Their 
report, which they made in 1669, was one of those 
compromises which aggravated rather than allayed 
the controversy. After this the legislature did not 
meddle with the matter. Time wrought a change 
which brought peace, because the new way won the 
field. 

This controversy grew up in a most natural manner. 
Parents, who were in full communion in the Church, 
offered their children in baptism, in the full belief 
that they were included in the covenant. Nor were 
they without warrant of Scripture for this view. The 
promises included the children ; so did the old cove- 
nant. So does the new. John Cotton said, " the 
same covenant which God made with the National 
Church of Israel and their seed, it is the very same 

* * * which the Lord maketh with any Congre- 
gational Church and our seed. ' ' That is, the children 



168 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

of believers, who were in the Church, received the 
rite of baptism because they were considered as with- 
in the Church, under its watch and care, and entitled 
to it. As early as the organization of the First 
Church in Salem, in 1629, Mr. JELigginson of Salem, 
and Mr. Brewster of Plymouth " did agree in their 
judgements, viz. concerning the church-membership 
of children with their parents, and that baptism was 
a seal of their membership. 7 ' This view was further 
confirmed by the Synod of June, 1657, which held 
that the Church had a certain watch and care over 
those who had received this seal, but were not in full 
communion. u It is the duty of infants who confed- 
erate in their parents, when grown up unto years of 
discretion, though not yet fit for the Lord's Supper, 
to own the covenant they made with their parents, by 
entering thereinto in their own persons ; and it is the 
duty of the church to call upon them for the perform- 
ance thereof ; and if being called upon, they shall re- 
fuse the performance of this great duty, or other- 
wise do continue scandalous, they are liable to be 
censured for the same by the church." [Cong. Chs. 
of Mass., p. 71.] There are several entries upon 
our records which read like a compliance with this 
decision, and from which it seems that the Church 
exercised the right of discipline in the case of men 
and women not in full communion. Only on their 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 169 

coming to adult age, and upon approbation of their 
fitness, persons owned the covenant, professed faith 
in Christ, were received into full relations, and were 
admitted to the Lord's Supper. This view of the 
church membership of baptized children was advo- 
cated as lately as 1844, in an elaborate treatise by- 
Rev. William A. Stearns, then pastor of the Evan- 
gelical Congregational Church, Cambridgeport, Mass., 
and afterwards President of Amherst College . These 
baptized children of parents, who were in full com- 
munion, were held to be in the Church by a kind of 
apostolic succession ; but not in it in full communion, 
so as to be admitted to its full privileges, till they 
could claim experience of the new birth, and had 
made full public confession of their faith. 

At this point the theory seemed to some to prove 
more than was claimed or even admitted by those 
who held it. Hence arose the controversy which 
dragged its length through more than a century of 
the ecclesiastical life of New England. For the 
question naturally arose whether such persons, who 
had received the sign and seal of their church mem- 
bership, in the rite of baptism, at the hands of their 
parents who were in full communion, had the right 
to present their own children for baptism. A further 
question also arose, whether such persons, being in 
the Church by their birth and baptism, should also 



170 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

have a right to come to the Lord's Table, without 
being able to claim the experience of the new birth, 
provided they lived orderly and outwardly correct 
lives. If they might have the privilege of the one 
Sacrament, why not of the other also ! The step was 
not far to the question why they should not be en- 
titled to a vote in the affairs of the Church. It was 
finally decided, however, by the convention of June 
4, 1657, that persons who were come to maturity, 
ought "to own the covenant they made with their 
parents, by entering thereinto in their own persons." 
" Yet it was decided that while the children of those 
thus owning the covenant ought to be admitted to 
baptism, they themselves ought not to come to the 
Lord's Table, nor vote in Church affairs, till they 
had made a profession of personal regeneration." 
[Dunning.] Instead of allaying strife the result of 
this council tended to foment, and prolong it. It is 
not our purpose to call the logic of this conclusion in 
question. But it is difficult to see, if the one point of 
baptism were yielded, why the other points would not 
follow, and why those, who might have their children 
baptized, might not also, for the same reason, come 
to the Lord's Table, and have a voice in the affairs of 
the Church. In fact, such came to be the result in 
many cases, to the great damage of the Churches, 
which became filled with members utterly lacking in 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 171 

spiritual life and Christian character. The finding, 
or rather compromise decision, of 1657, was let- 
ting down the first bar. The others came down in 
succession, till often, regenerated character, was not 
required as essential to church membership ; only an 
outwardly correct life. The battle of Unitarianism in 
the nineteenth century began to be fought during 
the last half of the seventeenth century. 

The controversy waxed hotter and hotter, nor did 
it cease till it claimed, and in many cases secured, 
full Church privileges for those who were the bap- 
tized children of the Church, without exacting of 
them the usual Christian experience. They formed 
a kind of third estate. They were exemplary in their 
lives; they helped support the gospel; why should 
they not come to the Lord's Table, have a voice in 
the affairs of the Church, express their minds in the 
calling of a pastor, etc ? The feeling grew so strong 
that in 1662 "the fourth Synod, which met at Boston, 
passed a vote which reaffirmed and commended the 
crude expedient of the Half-way Covenant" [Dr. 
Bacon] ; that is, on presenting their children for 
baptism, they were to make a certain public confes- 
sion of Christian faith and obedience, which was not 
to be understood as implying a Christian experience 
or change of heart. The discussion never came to a 
definite decision. Churches were left. to decide their 



172 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

own internal practice. But lines of cleavage were 
drawn. In 1707 Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of North- 
ampton, Mass., the grandfather of Jonathan Ed- 
wards, preached a sermon in which he took ground 
that "the Lord's Supper is a converting ordinance." 
The sermon provoked sharp and unfavorable discus- 
sion and comment. In reply he published his i l Appeal 
to the Learned 5 being a Vindication of the Right of 
Visible Saints to the Lord's Supper, though they be 
destitute of a Saving Work of God's Spirit on their 
Hearts." These " visible saints" were the offspring 
of Christian parents, who had received the rite of 
baptism, and inherited the relation of sonship toward 
God. There are abundant evidences that this Stod- 
dardean plan was partially at work in this Church 
before it was promulgated by Mr. Stoddard, in the 
case of those who would i i conform their outward 
conduct to the accepted rules of Christian morality." 
Says Dr. Bacon, " silently, widely, and for at least a 
quarter of a century the practice had preceeded the 
public vindication of it." 

The Churches, which were thus increased in mem- 
bership by the admission of persons who laid no 
claim to regenerate character, grew lax in discipline. 
The morals of a community often sank to so low an 
ebb that offences against social purity were not infre- 
quent. Into the pulpits came men who could lay 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT. 173 

small claim to a spiritual experience, even if they had 
been converted. Fruit was borne in a scheme of jus- 
tification by works. The cleavage which split the 
Churches of New England asunder in the early part 
of this century began in the practices of the last half 
of the seventeenth century. 

The baptismal question was a burning one. It 
was, in fact, paramount to every other. So much 
stress was laid on it that men, who were not ready to 
take the vows of God upon them, esteemed this sign 
and seal of the covenant as of the utmost importance 
to their children, and they were willing to go half- 
way to secure it for them ; forgetting that the ordi- 
nance means nothing, and secures nothing for the 
subject, unless the believing faith of the parent 
accompanies the act of consecration. The practice 
of infant baptism seems to have been more general 
than in some later periods, in which the people of 
God seem to have forgotten that the children were 
included in the covenant. 

The spiritual conditions were not favorable to the 
promotion of deep personal piety, nor of revivals of 
religion. There were no awakenings in this Church, 
nor, indeed, in New England, worth mention, before 
1740. " Into these conditions the preaching of Jon- 
athan Edwards came as a purifying stream from a 
divine fountain." [Dunning.] Their effect on this 



174 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Church rnay be seen in the fact that during the first 
half century of its existence in New London not over 
two hundred were received into its membership, and 
that a full century of its life passed without a reli- 
gious awakening. 

This appropriately introduces to the next pastorate, 
in which we shall find the Half-way Covenant in full 
practice. 



IX. 

THE ROGERENES. 

As we have seen, the Rogerene movement began 
in New London during the ministry of Mr. Brad- 
street. But it became a prominent religious factor 
in the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall. Its doctrines and 
practices were more sharply denned, and began to 
take deeper root and to assert themselves more posi- 
tively. As it was the first break in the nnity of reli- 
gious thought and worship in New London, and as its 
originators and adherents so vitally affected the life 
of the Church during the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall, 
a brief account of this sect may be given as a further 
introduction to his pastorate. 

The originator of the family in New London, 
whose name the movement came to bear, was James 
Rogers. He came to America, it is supposed, in 
1635, when twenty years of age. He settled in Strat- 
ford, and afterward at Milford, where he joined the 
Church in 1652. He came to New London between 
1656 and 1660. He joined this Church by letter 
from the Church in Milford in 1670, soon after Mr. 



176 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Bradstreet's ordination. He soon acquired large 

property, and exerted considerable influence in both 

civil and ecclesiastical affairs. He built a house of 

stone on that part of Mr. Winthrop' s house-lot which 

was next the Old Town Mill. Mr. Winthrop's deed 

fixes the location. It is found in Book III, p. 124, 

of the ancient Town Records, is dated May 13, 

1660-61, and reads as follows: 

" Know all men by these presents that I John Winthrop for 
lawfull considerations to me thereunto moving do give, grant, 
alienate, confirm and make over unto James Rogers of New 
London, bisket Baker, that part or parcel of ground on which 
his house in New London now stands containing also the [il- 
legible] and garden plat joining to said house as now lay ex- 
cepting only a sufficient landing-place and way, or passage 
which is left common that to go to and from the grist mill by 
land and water, this said way [now known as Mill street] being 
the boundary to said ground thus given towards the west, my 
own land without the garden and lot to be the bounds eastward. 
The street [now known as Winthrop street] between my or- 
chard and the said grounds the bounds next northward, the 
mill cove or creek the bounds to the southward." 

That is, the town dwelling of James Rogers 
stood on the piece of ground "between Winthrop 
street and the cove and east of Mill street. The 
Winthrops afterwards bought the ground back. The 
deed makes impossible the view stated, by Miss Caulk- 
ins, that Mr. Rogers lived on the spot where the 
Winthrop school now stands. 

Mr. Rogers, as the deed specified, was a baker. He 
did business on a large scale. He furnished biscuit 



THE ROGERENES. 177 

for seamen, and for the colonial troops. Between 
1660 and 1670 he had a greater interest in the trade 
of this port than any other person in the town. He 
had large landed estates on Great Neck, at Mohegan, 
several house lots in town, and a large tract of land 
on the east side of the river. 

He had a numerous progeny, descending from his 
five sons, who were progenitors of as many distinct 
lines. But we are more immediately concerned with 
his third son, John, who was the direct founder of 
the sect which still bears his ancestral name. In 
1670 this John married Elizabeth, the daughter of 
Matthew Griswold. In 1674 he and his brother 
James embraced Sabbatarian views, and were im- 
mersed. Jonathan followed in 1675, and the father, 
James, with his wife and daughter Bathsheba, in 
1676. They became dissenters from the Congrega- 
tional order and joined the Seventh Day Church in 
Newport. The elder James was an upright and cir- 
cumspect man. He died February 1687-8. 

As the government of Andros was paramount in New 
England at the time, his will was probated in Boston. 
It was a simple document, expressing the wish that his 
children should not contend over his property. 
11 What I have of this world I leave among you, de- 
siring you not to fall out or contend about it ; but 
let your love one to another appear more than to the 



178 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

estate I leave with you, which is but of this world." 
A later part of the document says, "if any difference 
should arise, &c, my will is that there shall be no 
lawing among my children before earthly judges, but 
that the controversy be ended by lot, and so I refer 
to the judgement of God, and as the lot comes forth, 
so shall it be." This irenic desire of the father was 
nob met, for the children were soon engaged in a bit- 
ter controversy respecting boundaries, in which 
" earthly judges" were obliged to interfere. 

His will further says, "and for your comfort I sig- 
nify to you that I have a perfect assurance of an 
interest in Jesus Christ and an eternal happy state in 
the world to come, and do know and see that my 
name is written in the book of life." 

In 1677, on account of|some|differences with cer- 
tain elders of the Seventh Day Church, from Rhode 
Island, John Rogers withdrew from the Sabbatarians, 
and advanced notions of his own. He assumed, and 
performed, the ministerial offices of baptizing and 
preaching. He gained a few disciples, and formed a 
new sect, who were called Rogerenes, Rogerene 
Quakers, or Rogerene Baptists — Rogerenes, because 
they were followers of John Rogers j Quakers, be- 
cause some of their beliefs were in harmony with 
those of the Friends ; Baptists, because they were 
immersionists. 



THE ROGERENES. 17& 

In respect to most of the Christian doctrines they 
were orthodox. They held to salvation by faith in 
Jesus Christ, to the Trinity, to the necessity of the 
new birth, to the resurrection of the just and the un- 
just, and to an eternal judgment. One of their 
peculiarities was an evident determination to be per- 
secuted. By their defiance of the laws of the Colony, 
they constantly made themselves liable to fines and 
imprisonment, and when punished for their misde- 
meanors they called it persecution. They maintained 
obedience to civil magistrates in all but matters of 
conscience and religion. A town rate they would 
pay without remonstrance, but they rebelled against 
being taxed for a minister's salary. They regarded 
all days alike, and so were brought into conflict with 
the statutes of the Colony which required the observ- 
ance of Sunday. For while they often met for relig- 
ious services, on the first day of the week, when their 
service was ended they felt free to labor as on other 
days. They had no houses set apart for public wor- 
ship. They regarded a church- tower, a pulpit, a 
cushioned pew, a church, a salaried minister in a black 
suit of clothes, with peculiar aversion. They did not 
believe in taxation for the support of j the institutions 
of religion ; nor in administering civil oaths ; nor in 
prayer on public occasions or in the family 5 nor in 
the use of the voice in prayer, unless, on special occa- 



180 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

sions, the Spirit of God within should move one to 
audible prayer ; nor in the use of medicines as means 
for the recovery of health ; nor in any civil or relig- 
ious rite in marriage. 

An account of the marriage of John Rogers and 
Mary Ransford will best state their views as to the 
proper method of entering into this holy alliance. His 
first wife, Elizabeth Griswold, had left him, a divorce 
having been granted her by the legislature. After 
living alone twenty-five years, he married himself to 
his maid servant, and on this wise. He would not be 
married by any minister or magistrate. So he hit 
upon the following course of procedure, as described 
by his son : ' l They agreed to go into the County 
Court and there declare their marriage ; and accord- 
ingly they did so ; he leading his bride by the hand 
into court, where the judges were sitting, and a mul- 
titude of spectators present ; and then desired the 
whole assembly to take notice, that he took that 
woman to be his wife ; his bride assenting to what he 
said, whereupon the judge (Wetherell) offered to 
marry them in their form, which he refused, telling 
them that he had once been married by their author- 
ity, and by their authority they had taken away his 
wife again, and rendered him no reason why they 
did it. Upon which account he looked upon their 
form of marriage to be of no value, and therefore he 



THE ROGERENES. 181 

would be married by their form no more. And from 
the court he went to the governor's house (Fitz- 
John Winthrop's) with his bride, and declared their 
marriage to the governor, who seemed to like it well 
enough, and wished them much joy, which is the 
usual compliment. 7 ' This strange scene they called 
marriage. It serves to show their views and prac- 
tices, and how they were accustomed to set common 
law at defiance, and make themselves liable to its 
penalties. Certainly such proceedings would not be 
tolerated now, and it does not seem that they were 
persecuted simply because they were required to con- 
form their conduct to the laws of the Colony. 

Not only did they hold peculiar views, and indulge 
in unlawful practices, but they meant that others 
should know it. They resorted to various ways of 
showing their contempt for the regular ministry. It 
is said that John Rogers once met Dr. Lord at the 
door of his meeting house in Norwich Town, and 
accosted him, as he took off his hat and displayed the 
ministerial wig, with these words, "Benjamin, Ben- 
jamin, dost thou think that they wear white wigs in 
heaven?" On another occasion he sent a wig to a 
contribution made in aid of the ministry. For this 
offence he made this candid apology, which is found 
in the town book : 



182 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

"Whereas I John Rogers of New London did rashly and 
unadvisedly send a perewigg to the contribution of New Lon- 
don, which did reflect dishonor upon that which my neighbors 
ye inhabitants of New London account the ways and ordi- 
nances of God and ministry of the word to the greate offence 
of them, I doe hereby declare that I am sorry for sayde action 
and doe desire all those whom I have offended to accept this 
my publique acknowledgement as full satisfaction. 27th, 1: 91. 

John Rogers." 

It was contempt cast upon Mr. Saltonstall for 
which this ample apology was made. 

But the regret expressed was only a temporary 
emotion. For he resumed almost immediately his 
career o£ offence. He and his followers felt bound 
to . dissent from the established order, from the com- 
monly received opinions and practices , and from the 
express statutes of the Colony, and that too in a way 
to bring upon themselves the force of the law. In 
1676 the fines and imprisonments of James Rogers 
and his sons for profanation of the Sabbath began. 
For this and similar offences they, and some of their 
followers were fined repeatedly, the fine being at first 
five shilling, then ten, then fifteen. At the June 
session of the court in 1677 seven persons were fined 
£5. In September the court ordered that John 
Rogers be called to account every month, and fined 
£5 each time. Others of the family were dealt with 
in a similar way for blaspheming the Sabbath, and 
for calling it an idol, and for stigmatizing the clergy- 



THE ROGERENES. 183 

men as hirelings. Later to these fines was added the 
punishment of sitting in the stocks and whipping. 

Not only did they disregard the Sabbath and God's 
express command to keep one seventh of time holy, 
they also were determined that others should not 
observe holy time in peace. Dr. McBwen says that 
they regarded worship, performed on the Lord's 
Day, as a species of idolatry which they felt called 
upon to oppose. They felt it to be their special 
mission to destroy priestcraft. So they used a variety 
of means to disturb those who were assembled for 
worship on the Christian Sabbath. They were ac- 
customed to enter places of worship in a rude and 
boisterous way ; to engage in various sorts of manual 
labor, such as sewing or knitting, during the service, 
in order to interrupt it. They sometimes came to 
church and behaved in a most unbecoming manner. 
They would often rise up in worshipping assemblies 
and interrupt the preacher and call him a hireling, 
accuse him of making merchandise of the flock, tell- 
ing the people that they were sunk in the mire of 
idolatry, and entangled in the net of Antichrist, and 
calling the preacher a liar, if he said anything which 
they did not believe. They even went so" far as to rush 
into church and interrupt the preacher to declare 
their violations of the laws respecting the keeping of 
holy time. Bathsheba Fox, a sister of John Rogers, 



184 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

went openly to church, to proclaim that she had been 
doing servile work on the Christian Sabbath. John 
Rogers went with her, and interrupted the preacher 
to proclaim a similar offence. On one occasion he 
trundled a wheel-barrow into the porch of the church 
during divine service. For this he was arrested, set 
in the stocks and imprisoned . Probably this was the 
very thing which he sought to bring upon himself as 
his testimony against what he called the errors of the 
times. While held in durance he hung out of his 
window a board which had the following proclama- 
tion: 

"I, John Rogers, a servant of Jesus Christ, doth here make 
an open declaration of war against the great red dragon, and 
against the beast to which he gives power ; and against the 
false church that rides upon the beast : and against the false 
prophets who are established by the dragon and the beast ; 
and also a proclamation of derision against the sword of the 
devil's spirit, which is prisons, stocks, whips, fines and revil- 
ings, all which is to defend the doctrines of devils." 

This would all have been harmless, if these people 
had not so persistently crowded their sentiments upon 
the attention of others in a way not to be disregarded. 
Thus on the next Sunday after writing the above, 
being allowed the privilege of the prison limits, he 
rushed into the meeting house during the service, 
and with great noise and violence denounced the 
minister and the worship. For this offence Mr. 
Rogers was taken to Hartford jail. The document 



THE ROGERENES. 185 

providing for his removal was dated March 28, 1694, 
and is as follows : 

"Whereas John Kodgers of !\New London hath of late set 
himself in a furious way in direct opposition to the true wor- 
ship and pure ordinances, and holy institutions of God, as 
also on the Lord's day passing out of prison in the time of 
public worship, running into the meeting house in a railing 
and raging manner, as being guilty of blasphemy ; " 

and more to the same effect, setting forth the rea- 
sons for more rigorous dealing with the offender. At 
Hartford he was tried, fined £5 for disturbing public 
worship, required to give bond of £50 not to repeat 
the offense, and was seated upon the gallows fifteen 
minutes with a halter round his neck. He refused 
to pay the fine or give the bond, and was remanded 
to jail, where he was kept till the whole length of his 
imprisonment was three years and eight months. 
During his term of confinement an attack was made 
upon the government of the Colony by several of his 
followers, reciting that "to compel people to pay for 
a Presbyterian minister is against the laws of Eng- 
land; is rapine, robbery and oppression." The re- 
monstrants paid for this attack at the rate of £5 
each. 

These people were dealt with with rigorous sever- 
ity. But what was the magistrate to do who was 
sworn to keep the peace ? And what shall be said of 
their violent and disorderly conduct, in defiance of 



186 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

the rights of the community? They felt the heavy 
hand of the law. but they had themselves principally 
to thank. Their right to hold their peculiar views 
was not questioned, nor were they punished for hold- 
ing them. 

It is said by his followers that John Rogers, after 
embracing the views which he preached, made him- 
self so obnoxious to the colonial statutes by his man- 
ner of advocating them, that he spent nearly one- 
third of his life in prison. Writing in 1706 he said : 
"I have been sentenced to pay hundreds of pounds, 
laid in iron chains, cruelly scourged, endured long 
imprisonments, set in the stocks many hours together, 
&c." His son states that his father's sufferings con- 
tinued for more than forty-five years, and adds, " I 
suppose that the like has not been known in the king- 
dom of England for some ages past." There can be 
no doubt that unreasonable severity was shown to this 
man and his followers. Thus he was fined £5 " for 
unlawfully rebaptizing," and was publicly ■■ whipped 
fifteen lashes" for creating disturances on the Lord's 
day in worshipping assemblies of such a violent nature 
that several women fainted away. The offence was 
great; the punishment was severe. Neither could 
happen now. 

John Rogers was a strong man. He believed what 
he believed with a strong conviction. The steadfast- 



THE ROGERENES. 187 

ness with which he and his followers clung to their 
beliefs, even though we regard them as fanatical, can 
not but elicit our admiration. But the difficulty was 
that they refused to render obedience to the laws, 
and refused to respect the rights of others to hold 
their beliefs in peace, and be protected in the exer- 
cise of their privileges. Their views made them a 
disturbing element in the community, and nothing 
was left for the magistrate to do but to punish their 
misdemeanors. It was, doubtless, a mistake for the 
early settlers of New England to compel conformity 
to an established ecclesiastical order ; the very evil 
which they had left England to escape. It is likely, 
too, that in these days much of the offending of the 
Rogerenes would have been passed over without no- 
tice. It may be, too, that prejudice and rumor exag- 
gerated their offences. But be that as it may, they 
were a part of the civil order which they were bound 
to regard. 

These people Avere not punished for their beliefs, 
but because, as Trumbull says, they took pains to 
disturb Christian assemblies, and deprived others of 
their right to worship God in their own way. Mr. 
Saltonstall may have been more uniformly rigorous 
than other magistrates. But he tried to persuade 
them to desist from molesting the worship of their 
neighbors, and offered them generous terms which 



188 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

would have secured liberty of conscience and convic- 
tion to them, and lasting peace to the community. 
Says John Bolles, l ' he gave his word that to persuade 
us to forbear, if we would be quiet, and worship God 
in our own way according to our consciences, he 
would punish any of their people that should disturb 
us in our worship." When it is said that Mr. Salton- 
stall was rigorous in his dealings with offenders, it 
should also be remembered that these people refused 
his proposition to secure to them the same rights of 
worship and belief which others enjoyed, on the simple 
condition that they would desist from molesting the 
worship of those who differed from them. They 
refused all compromise, and insisted on pursuing 
their riotous methods. It was not their fault if Mr. 
SaltonstalPs pastorate was not a stormy one. The 
reputation which he had for austerity of manner and 
severity of spirit, was partly due to the rigorous 
measures to which the riotous behavior of the Roger- 
enes drove him. 

John Rogers was in trouble, and kept every one 
else in trouble who had any dealings with him, till 
he died, October 17, 1721. He was buried on his 
Mamacock farm, on the banks of the Thames. The 
sect which he founded has always had its home in 
New London county. It is said that their numbers 
have remained about the same as at the beginning to 



THE ROGERENES. 189 

this day. The violent opposition to the established 
order which they manifested at the first seemed to 
subside after the death of their founder. With the 
exception of a year and a half during the ministry of 
Mather Byles, they seem to have lived peaceably with 
all men. Their bitter hatred of a paid ministry, and 
of houses of worship which were peculiar to Roger- 
enes two centuries ago, are no longer true of them. 
The principal society now is in Ledyard. The fol- 
lowing is from the pen of Rev. John Avery, who was 
pastor in Ledyard, and speaks from personal knowl- 
edge: 

"The Rogerene Quakers have for many years lived in the 
southeast part of Ledyard, and have there constituted a com- 
munity quite isolated in some respects from the people dwell- 
ing about them. They have their own views of religion, their 
own meeting house, their own modes of worship, their own 
Sabbath school, and their own ways of doing things generally. 
They are in the main industrious, peaceable and honest, and 
inclined to let other people have their own ways, provided 
that other people will let them have theirs. Formerly they 
refused to have anything to do with politics ; refused to go to 
the polls to vote ; refused to pay taxes ; refused to bear arms. 
Some of these peculiarities have in recent years been partially 
laid aside. 

"In the War of the Rebellion some of their young men 
enlisted as soldiers, and several laid down their lives in their 
country's service. The children are now educated in the pub- 
lic schools, and several of the young people have become suc- 
cessful teachers. Quite a number of their young men, and 
young women, too, have married into other than Quaker fam- 
ilies. The result of this has been that considerable numbers 
have, in a measure, at least, broken away from the Quaker faith. 



190 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

"The old-time prejudice against churches and ministers, 
though still retained by some, is slowly wearing off with the 
risiDg generation. Whenever a marriage ceremony is to be 
celebrated, generally a clergyman is called in to officiate. At 
funerals also a minister of the gospel is generally requested to 
take charge of the service. They are strongly opposed to war, 
and have for many years been putting forth strenuous efforts 
to promote universal peace among men." * * * 

This modern picture of these people presents them 
in a far different and more winsome light than the 
history of their earlier years. 



^ I- 




3n 



\ 



X. 

GURDON SALTONSTALL'S PASTORATE. 
Nov. 25, 1691— Jan. 1, 1708. 



The interval between the death of Mr. Bradstreet, 
and the coming of Mr. Saltonstall, was occupied with 
attempts to secure a pastor. A committee was ap- 
pointed November 19, 1683 as follows: "Voted 
that Major John Winthrop, Major Edward Palmes, 
Capt. James Avery, Mr. Daniel Wetherell. Mr. 
Christo Christophers, Tho. Beebe, Joseph Coite, John 
Prentis Sen 1 * 1 Clemeant Miner, Charles Hill, are ap- 
pointed a committee in behalf of the town to send a 
letter to Capt. Wayte Winthrop to the reverend Mr. 
Mather and Mr. Woollard [Willard] ministers at 
boston for there advice and counsell in attayneing a 
minister for the towne to supply the place of Mr. 
Bradstreet deceased, and that sd Capt. Winthrop 
shall have instructions from the sd committee to man- 
adge that affaire w th them." Not until June of the 
following year was their quest successful, when the 
committee reported that they had secured the services 
of Mr. Edward Oakes of Cambridge, Mass. The 



192 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

town voted to approve the acts of the committee, and 
to give Mr. Oakes a salary of £100 a year " for so 
long a time as he and they could agree together." 
Probably this was the Edward Oakes, who graduated 
from Harvard college in the class of 1679, and who 
was the son of Rev. Urian Oakes, who had been 
president of the college. He preached here about a 
year, and steps were taken towards his settlement. 
But the people were not unanimous in their desire to 
have him remain, and he left the Church and the 
town. It is said that he died young ; probably not 
long after his departure from New London. 

In September, 1685, shortly after Mr. Oakes had 
gone, the committee secured the services of Mr. 
Thomas Barnet. He soon arrived on the ground 
with his family, and entered upon his duties. So sat- 
isfactory were his services that, in November of that 
year, the town voted to accept his ministry. Again 
December 26th the following vote was passed : ' ' Mr. 
Thomas Barnet by full consent none contradicting 
was accepted by the inhabitants to be their minister." 
In other words he received an unanimous call to be 
the pastor of the Church. The vote continues, 
" Major John Winthrop is chosen to appear as the 
mouth of the Town to declare their acceptance of Mr. 
Barnet." " The time for ye solemnity of Mr. Bar- 
net's admittance to all ministerial offices is left to the 



SALTONST ALL'S PASTORATE. 193 

direction of Mr. Barnett and the townsmen to ap- 
point the day." For some unknown reason he was 
never ordained, and his ministry here, after a brief 
period came to an end. His name does not appear 
again on the records, save in a bill for sixteen shil- 
lings, presented by Jonathan Prentis, "for going 
with Mr. Barnett to Swansea." Why an arrange- 
ment which promised so well, and was so mutually 
satisfactory, fell through, is nowhere explained. He 
was an English clergyman, and, like Mr. Peters and 
Mr. Blinman, had been ejected from his living, and 
driven from England for non-conformity, by the rig- 
orous measures which followed the restoration of the 
house of Stuart to the throne. Like Mr. Peters he 
may have been recalled to England. This would ex- 
plain his sudden departure from Xew London. His 
ministry extended into 1686, and may have occupied 
a considerable portion of it. 

June 22, 1687, the town was again assembled to 
deliberate upon the question of the ' l best ways and 
means for procuring an able minister of the gospel." 
A committee of seven, with Hon. Fitz-John TTin- 
throp at its head, was chosen. After a few months 
they secured the services of Mr. Gurdon Saltonstall, 
a young man, of great promise, who had graduated 
from Harvard college three years and a half before. 
This young man came to Xew London upon the invi- 



194 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

tation of the committee, and preached during the 
winter of 1687-8 with so great acceptance that he 
soon won all the hearts and votes of the people. 
Consequently in May, 1688, he received an unani- 
mous request, by vote of the town, to continue among 
them in the work of the ministry. That is, he re- 
ceived a call to settle in the pastorate of the Church. 
They promised to give him due encouragement ; which 
doubtless meant ample pecuniary support. The 
amount of the salary is not given, but it was probably 
not less than had been paid his predecessor — u £120 
a year in provision pay." 

The call was accepted. For the town voted that 
" on his return from Boston, whither he is shortly 
going, they will proceed to have him ordained." For 
some unknown reason his ordination did not take 
place till November 25, 1691. The interval between 
this event and the death of Mr. Bradstreet, in August, 
1683, was over eight years. But he continued to 
preach after he came till he was ordained, so that the 
actual interval between the two ministries was but a 
little over four years. His ministrations met with 
universal acceptance, as appears from the fact 
that the vote of May, 1688, accepting his ministry, 
or calling him to the pastorate, was repeated June 7, 
1689. Evidently the reason for delay in his ordina- 
tion was with himself. For August 25, 1691, at a 



195 

town- meeting, at which sixty-five persons, who were 
heads of families, were present, the votes of 1688 
and 1689 were reaffirmed, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to make arrangements with Mr. Saltonstall 
for his ordination, and it was u voted that Hon. Major 
General John Winthrop is to appear as the mouth of 
the Town at Mr. Saltonstall' s ordination, to declare 
the Town's acceptance of him to the ministry." 

In the records of the Church is this entry, u Nov. 
19, '91, G. Saltonstall was received into this Church." 
He is the only pastor whose name appears on its list 
of members, till Rev. Edward W. Bacon. Six days 
later, November 25, the following minute was entered 
on the records in Mr. Saltonstall's hand, i: The rec- 
ords of the Church kept by G. Saltonstall from Nov. 
25, 1691, who was on that day ordained minister 
there by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Timothy Woodbridge." 
Rev. Joseph Eliot, of Guilford, and Rev. Timothy 
Woodbridge, of Hartford, are probably the men 
referred to. Thus at the age of twenty-six years, 
lacking four months, Gurdon Saltonstall became pas- 
tor of the First Church, which office he held and 
filled with great ability till he was chosen Governor to 
succeed his distinguished parishioner, the Hon. Fitz- 
John Winthrop. 

He filled so large a place, and was so conspicuous 
a figure in the history of this Church, the town and 



196 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

the Colony; that we may pause here to enquire who 
he was and from whom he was descended. His 
great-grandfather was Richard Saltonstall, Sr., who 
was born at Halifax, England, in 1586, and was 
nephew of Sir Richard Saltonstall, who was at one 
time Lord Mayor of London. He was also one of the 
original patentees of the Connecticut Colony, of 
which his great-grandson was to be Governor. He 
came to Massachusetts with John "Winthrop, Sr., as 
his assistant, in 1630. He returned to England the 
next year, where he filled several important positions 
under the Crown. In 1644 he was sent as an ambas- 
sador to Holland. In 1649 he was one of the judges 
of the court which passed sentence of death upon the 
Duke of Hamilton, Lord Capel and others for high 
treason. He died in England in 1658, at the age of 
seventy-two. 

His son Richard, Jr., the grandfather of Gurdon, 
was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1610. He en- 
tered the University of Cambridge in 1627, at the 
age of seventeen. As he came to Massachusetts 
with his father in 1630, he evidently did not com- 
plete the full course of four years at the University. 
He settled in Ipswich, Mass., where he resided till 
1672, when he returned to England, where he died 
April 29, 1694. 

His son Nathaniel, the father of Gurdon, a council- 



saltonstall's pastorate. 197 

lor of some note, was born at Ipswich, Mass., in 
1639. He was graduated from Harvard College in 
1659. He settled in Haverhill, Mass., where he died 
May 21, 1707. 

His son, Gurdon Saltonstall, was born at Haver- 
hill, March 27, 1666. He appears to have entered 
Harvard College at the age of fourteen. For he 
graduated in 1684, at the age of eighteen. He 
studied theology rather than the law, which was the 
profession of his father. Probably he pursued his 
theological course under the tutelage of some clergy- 
man, since there were no schools of the prophets. 
He had the best of blood in his veins. By birth he 
was an aristocrat. He got his name, Gurdon, from 
his grandmother, who was Muriel Gurdon. Lucy 
Downing wrote from Watertown, Mass., to John 
Winthrop, Jr., June 22, 1633, as follows: "Last 
night Mr. Gurden came to me to desire my house for 
his lodging, and his daughter is to be married next 
week to Sir Richard Saltonstall's son.'' This young 
pastor of the First Church of Christ gave promise of 
a distinguished career, which, as we shall see, was 
amply fulfilled. 

As introducing the story of this pastorate, two or 
three facts may be noticed. The question of secur- 
ing the minister's salary was a perplexing one. It 
had been raised by assessing the " minister's rates " 



198 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

upon the grand list. This had become so odious that 
an attempt was made about this time to secure it by 
voluntary subscription. A paper was circulated. 
One hundred and five subscriptions were obtained, 
embracing names scattered over the whole township, 
" from Nahantic Bay to Mystic, and from Poquetan- 
nuck to the Sound." Only £57 were pledged. The 
sum was entirely insufficient, and the plan was aban- 
doned. 

The Bradstreet meeting house had not been fur- 
nished with seats as late as 1690. In that year a levy 
was made for the purpose of completing the interior 
of the building. A committee, consisting of the 
townsmen, or selectmen, with Ensign Clement Miner, 
and Sergeant Thomas Beeby, was then appointed to 
assign seats. This was sometimes an affair of no 
small magnitude. In doubtful cases of precedence 
it was often necessary for the town to interfere and 
decide between two contending parties. At this time 
but one case was reported for adjustment. The vote 
stands as follows: "Joseph Beck with having paid 
40s. towards finishing the meeting house, is allowed 
a seat in the 4th seat, and his wife also in the 4th 
seat, on the woman's side." Similar votes at later 
periods show that this supervision of the town contin- 
ued for a considerable time. The vote was always 
mandatory; sometimes peremptory. With a law 



saltonstall' s pastorate. 199 

making attendance upon the services of the Church 
obligatory, and with the town to say how much a man 
should pay and where he should sit, there ought to 
have been little solicitude about an audience, no anx- 
iety lest men should quarrel over the possession of a 
given pew, and no fears about the finances of the 
Church. However, it does not seem to have been 
any smoother sailing then than now. 

The entrance of Mr. Saltonstall upon his duties as 
pastor of the Church was signalized by the purchase 
of a large brass bell, for which the sum of £25 cur- 
rent money was paid. This was the first bell in the 
town, and in New London county. It took the place 
of the drum, which had hitherto called the people 
together for public worship and town meeting. 
William Chapman was the sexton. To his annual 
salary of £3 , forty shillings were added as compensa- 
tion for ringing the bell. 

When Mr. Saltonstall came to New London the 
colonies were full of alarm, because of the ambitious 
attempts of Sir Edmund Andros to deprive them of 
their liberties. The career on which the young pastor 
entered at his ordination was not a thornless one. 
From the day when he was made the minister of the 
Church, till the day when he died as Governor of the 
Colony, he encountered difficulties and oppositions 
which were calculated to try the stuff of which he 



200 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

was made. How well he stood the test, the story of 
his life will tell. 

Upon coming to New London, assisted by a gratu- 
ity voted him by the town, he bought a lot, and built 
a house for himself on Main street, nearly opposite 
the bridge leading across the cove to East New Lon- 
don. Like himself his dwelling was conspicuous, at 
least for situation. The meeting house in the town 
square was not far back of his dwelling. His lot was 
bounded in the rear by the Codner highway, or ' ' old 
pathway leading from the meeting-house to the mill." 
This had been closed, but was reopened by the town 
for his convenience. This reopened pathway is now 
known as u Stony Hill." A gate, opening into it 
from his grounds, brought him within a few rods of 
the church. A chronicler of those times relates that 
he might be seen, on a Sunday morning, issuing from 
this garden gate, in the rear of his house, and ascend- 
ing the steep declivity, with slow and majestic step, 
to the meeting house, with his wife by his side, while 
his three sons and four daughters, followed by the 
household servants, brought up the rear. The pro- 
cession was specially imposing after he became Gov- 
ernor of the Colony. 

After his death, his son, General Gurdon Salton- 
stall, continued his father's procession to the house 



SALTON STALL'S PASTORATE. 201 

o£ God on the hill; only his retinue of sons and 
daughters was fourteen. 

The Church received no accessions between the 
death of Mr. Bradstreet and the ordination of Mr. 
Saltonstall. In the interval of eight years the mem- 
bership decreased from about seventy to thirty-three. 
During his ministry one hundred and forty-one were 
admitted into the Church, whose names are given on 
the list. This is not a large number — less than ten a 
year. But when we consider the facts the number 
gains in significance. The population of those days 
was sparse, and there were fewer people from whom 
to recruit the ranks of the Church. The Half-way 
Covenant, with its disastrous effects upon the spirit- 
ual life of the Church, was in full practice. The 
Rogerene movement had gained full force. The era 
of modern revivals had not yet dawned. Not until 
half a century later did a great awakening visit the 
Churches of New England. In view of all the facts 
we must regard the number of accessions as far from 
small. 

At the date of his ordination Mr. Saltonstall made 
this entry on the records of the Church : " Nov. 25, 
1691. Names of members in full communion." He 
then gives the following list of persons who composed 
the Church on the day when he became its pastor : 



202 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Captain Jas. Avery and wife. Mrs. Mannering. 

Captain Witherell. Mrs. Ann Latimer. 

William Douglass and wife. Widow Leister. 

John Stebbins. Nek. Smith's wife. 

Ensign C. Miner. Sarah Tyrrell. 

David Caulkins. Mrs. Dennis. 

David Leister and wife. Joseph Becket's wife. 

Dea. Joseph Coite and wife. Widow Hempstead. 

Robert Douglass and wife. Lydia Bayley. 

Captain James Avery. Mrs. Starr. 

Thomas Avery and wife. Joseph Morgan's wife. 

Goodwife Comstock, Mary Sherwood. 

Goodwife Dart. Goodwife Geeres. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Harris. G. Saltonstall. 

Thus the total membership at the opening of his 
pastorate was, including himself, thirty-four — twelve 
males and twenty-two females. Then follow the one 
hundred and forty- one names of those who were added 
between November 25, 1691, and August 3, 1707, 
when the last admissions during his ministry were 
recorded. 

But there are entries among the records of baptism 
which seem to show that several other names should 
be put upon the list. For example, "February 4, 
1694, Mr. Truman's daughters, they both professing 
faith in Christ," were baptized Mary and Ann. 
These were probably the daughters of Joseph Tru- 
man, who came to New London in 1667. February 
18 of the same year it is recorded that "Mr. Ashby's 
2 daughters made a profession of faith, owned the 
covenant and were baptized; the one Mary, the 



SALTONST ALL'S PASTORATE. 203 

other Hannah. 7 ' These were the daughters of Mr. 
Anthony Ashby. Miss Caulkins says that " his two 
daughters, Mary and Hannah, united with the church 
in 1694." The record of their baptism is the only 
one which tells that they were received into the 
Church. There are some reasons for believing that 
it was so meant. If they were received into the 
Church, so were the daughters of Mr. Truman, of 
whom the same record was made. To profess faith in 
Christ, and at the same time to be baptized, is now 
equivalent to joining the Church on the part of one 
who was not baptized in infancy. 

There are several entries like the following : "Sam- 
uel Rogers, son of Joseph, owned the covenant, and 
was baptized Samuel." But these differ from the 
foregoing, in that the person is not said to have pro- 
fessed faith in Christ. It was Mr. Saltonstall's cus- 
tom to baptize adults who did not at the time make 
public profession of faith and join the Church. Mr. 
Samuel Rogers joined the Church April 9, 1699, four 
years after his baptism. 

May 26, 1695, this entry was made: " Bro. 
David's Indian Jane made profession of the Christian 
faith, and taking hold of the covenant was baptized 
Jane." " April 23, 1699, John Young made pro- 
fession of the Christian faith owned the covenant 
& was baptized." "December 22, 1700, John 



204 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Christophers made a confession of the faith owned 
the covenant and was baptized John ; his wife owned 
the covenant also j they had at the same time their 
daughter baptized Elizabeth." He is recorded as 
having joined the Church about a year later, Novem- 
ber 15, 1701. June 29, 1701, " George Way owned 
the covenant and was baptized himself and admitted 
to the Lord's Table, and also had his children bap- 
tized." He is recorded as having been received into 
the Church a little later. But in his case, and that of 
Mr. Christophers the confession of faith ended in 
complete Church membership. There may have 
been reasons for the delay which would fully explain 
it. u James Rogers, son of James, made profession 
of the Christian faith, owned himself under the bond 
of the covenant of grace, and thereupon was bap- 
tized." u December 28, 1701, Mary Covel professed 
publicly the faith, owned the covenant, and was bap- 
tized. " " February 1,1702, Elleph Chappell made pro- 
fession of faith and repentance and was baptized." 
11 March 8, 1702 Ellenor Jennings made profession of 
the Christian faith and was baptized. " " June 7, 1702 
Rice's child" was baptized "his wife being in full 
communion with the church." Her name does not 
appear on our printed list ; but this must be an 
oversight, as the above entry points to her member- 
ship in it. "October 25, 1702, Hannah Bahr and 



saltonstall's pastorate. 205 

Mercy Manwaring made profession of faith and were 
baptized. ' ' ' 'August 27, 1704 Mary, a mulatto, living 
at Jonas Green's, professed faith in Christ, owned 
the covenant and was baptized." "June 2, 1706, 
Thomas Willee made profession of faith, owned the 
covenant, and was baptized." These cases differ 
from the usual formula of the Half-way Covenant, in 
the statement that the candidate made public profes- 
sion of faith in Christ. 

Mrs. Rice was a member in full communion say 
the records. Mr. George Way and Mr. John Chris- 
tophers were also. If their making profession of 
faith in Christ ultimately meant Church membership, 
there would seem to be good reason for saying that a 
similar entry pointed to the same Church relations in 
the case of Mary and Ann Truman, of Mary and 
Hannah Ashby, of brother David's Indian Jane, of 
John Young, of Mary Covel, of Elleph Chappell, of 
Elleanor Jennings, of Hannah Bahr, of Mercy Man- 
warring, of Mary the mulatto who lived at Jonas 
Green's, and of Thomas Willee, of each of whom 
it is recorded that they made profession of the Chris- 
tian faith, owned the covenant and were baptized. 
It is true that the practices of the times were some- 
what loose, and too much stress is not to be laid on 
entries like these just quoted. Nevertheless, such 



206 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

records now would signify that the person was re- 
ceived into the Church. Therefore we believe that 
these fourteen names should be added to the list of 
those whom Mr. Saltonstall received into full commu- 
nion, after November 25, 1691, making the whole 
number 154. 

Several records of baptism are worth noticing, as 
showing the custom of the times. They point unmis- 
takably to the practice of the Half-way Covenant. 
"December 29, 1691, Mr. Kichard Christophers 
owned the covenant^ and had his children baptized." 
He did not become a member in full communion till 
March 12, 1693. "October 4, 1692, the son of 
Adam Pickett, named John," was baptized, "and 
committed to the care of his grandfather, Daniel 
Wetherell ." " February 4, 1694, Sampson Horton's 
children" were baptized "on the right of his wife." 
She was not a member here, but may have been else- 
where. There are nearly one hundred entries, made 
by Mr. Saltonstall, which say that certain persons 
who were not in full communion, owned the covenant, 
and had their children baptized or were baptized 
themselves. April 12, 1696, a man from Norwich, 
whose name is not given, had a child baptized Mary, 
"his wife being a child of the church here, and 
owning the covenant." A number of entries are 
made in which men had children baptized on the 



saltonstall's pastorate. 207 

wife's account who, as is sometimes stated, was in 
full communion. The following entry is also sug- 
gestive of a practice of those times. September 29, 
1706, "John Stedman's children being presented by 
their grandmother John Fox's wife," who joined the 
Church in 1691. The following records, September 
20, 1702, present still another phase of the baptismal 
question, and show how earnestly it was coveted for 
the children. "The wife of Mr. Ray being Mr. 
Manwaring's daughter and baptized here owned 
the covenant and had her three children bap- 
tized." "The wife of Mr. Wilson being Mr. Man- 
waring's daughter, and baptized here owned the 
covenant and had her child baptized." These are 
clear cases of the practice of the Half-way Covenant, 
and show that the baptized children of the Church 
were considered as within its pale, and entitled to 
some of its privileges. Men who were under censure 
were allowed to have their children baptized in the 
right of their wives. Thus May '26, 1700, James 
Avery, Jr.'s, child "in right of his wife, he being 
under offence . ' ' Persons who were guilty of gross sins 
were not allowed to present themselves or their children 
for baptism under the Half-way Covenant even, until 
they had made public acknowledgement of their sin 
and professed repentance therefor. Thus it is re- 
corded that Esther Swaddles, who was not a mem- 



208 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ber of the Church at any time, " having before given 
satisfaction to the Church for her sin of fornication, 
owned the covenant and was baptized." 

Mr. Saltonstall's record of baptisms includes over 
five hundred and seventy names. Most of them are 
those of children; some are those of adult persons 
who under the usages of the times were admitted to 
the rite of baptism without entering into full cove- 
nant relations with the Church. The record of bap- 
tisms begins December 6, 1691, u Daniel Leister's 
child Thomas," and ends December 1, 1707 ''Rich- 
ard Codner's child Elizabeth, George Way's child, 
Mehitable." 

He was the first to perform the marriage ceremony 
in New London as a clergyman. He recorded thirty- 
seven instances in which he officiated on such occa- 
sions. The list is introduced as follows : " A record 
of Marriages commencing March 31, 1697 contain- 
ing the Persons who were married by me Ghirdon Sal- 
tonstall." The first record is, " March 31, 1697 Icha- 
bod Sayre son of Francis Sayre of Southampton on 
Nassau Island was married to Mary Hubbart of New 
London in Connecticut. ' ' The last record is ' ' Decem- 
ber 1707 Thomas Beeby and Anna Hobson both of 
New London." 

In 1694 an event of a serious nature took place. 
July 11 a vote was taken by the town to proceed 



209 

forthwith to build a new meeting house, " and that a 
rate of twelve pence on the pound be made for it. 
Capt. Wetherell, Mr. Pygan, Capt. James Morgan, 
Lt. James Avery, Mr. John Davie, Serg*- Nehemiah 
Smith, Ensign John Hough, and Richard Christo- 
phers" were ll chosen a committee to agree with the 
workmen for building the house, and managing the 
whole concern about it." This is all the record we 
have to tell us that a new house of worship was need- 
ed. But there is incidental evidence, that the Brad- 
street meeting house, which had been completed four 
years before, was destroyed by fire, probably in June 
of that year. There was a suspicion, though with- 
out evidence to support it, that it was an act of incen- 
diarism committed by the Rogerenes. Several of 
them were arrested and tried ; but the crime could 
not be proved against them. Without doubt they 
were innocent. For they were so obnoxious to the 
community, that a failure to find evidence to convict 
them was prima facie proof that they were not guilty. 
The proper committees were appointed, and the 
work of replacing the lost edifice was pushed with 
commendable energy. It appears from the Colonial 
Records of the session of the General Court for 
October, 1694, that the Colonial Legislature voted 
the town assistance in replacing their lost house of 
worship. The record stands, the General Court u by 



210 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

their vote granted to New London the sume of sixty 
pownds towards the charge of the rebuilding of their 
Meeting House, to be payd out of their country rate . J ' 
In four years the third or Saitonstall meeting house 
was so far completed as to be used for public worship. 
It occupied the same commanding site where its two 
predecessors had stood. It was the last house to be 
built on that spot, and was used for divine service till 
1785 — a period of eighty-seven years — when it was 
replaced by the fourth, or Channing meeting house, 
which was the first to be built on the present location . 
To this third house of worship Governor Fitz-John 
Winthrop gave a bell. July 18, 1698, the town 
voted to accept the gift "with great thankfulness," 
and desired ' ' that their thanks may be given to his 
Honor for the same." At the same meeting it was 
' i voted that the bell be forthwith hanged and placed 
on the top of the meeting house at charge of the town, 
the townsmen to procure it to be done." It was also 
voted that the edifice should be finished that summer ; 
and it was done, and seats were assigned. Privilege, 
however, was given to certain persons to build their 
own pews, but under such restrictions as to "place 
and bigness " as the town might impose. They were 
to pay no less in rates for completing the house. A 
sexton was chosen at the same meeting, his duties 
were defined, and his salary was fixed. William 



SALTONST ALL'S PASTORATE. 211 

Halsey was the man on whom the honor fell. His 
duties were ' ' to sweep and cleane the meeting house 
every weeke and to open the dores upon all pubiique 
meetings and to ring the bell upon the Sabbath day 
and all other pubiique days of meeting and allso to 
ring the bell every night at nine of the clock winter 
and summer, for which service the towne hath voated 
to give him five pounds in money and ten shillings 
yearly. 7 ' With the change of ringing the curfew at 
eight o'clock instead of nine on Saturday nights, this 
custom which was then established has been contin- 
ued to the present, a period of two hundred years. 

Thus the meeting house was completed, and the 
simple arrangements for the worship of God were 
made, which amply met the requirements of that 
day. Put by the side of the more costly and preten- 
tious piles of the present, those early temples would 
doubtless seem insignificant. If the plain service of 
the fathers were contrasted with the more elaborate 
rituals of today, they would, perhaps, seem tame. 
But if the glory of the temple depends upon the 
divine presence, and if the acceptable nature of the 
worship depends upon the sincere spirit, and fervent 
devotions of the worshippers, who can say that the 
more magnificent structures and the more elaborate 
service of the present can surpass the less preten- 
tious ones of two centuries ago ? 



212 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

The previous chapter made it very evident that a 
man of Mr. Saltonstall' s regard for order would cer- 
tainly come into collision with people like the Roger- 
enes. The incident given, in which John Rogers 
rushed into the Church while Mr. Saltonstall was 
holding service, and disturbed it with vehement de- 
nunciations of the minister and the worship, illus- 
trates the trials with which he met at their hands. 
Soon after his long confinement in Hartford, which 
he brought on himself by this disturbance of divine 
service, John Rogers provoked a personal conflict 
with Mr. Saltonstall by circulating "a lying, false, 
and scandalous report against him, the said Grurdon 
Saltonstall, and did publish the same in the hearing 
of diverse persons.' 7 Mr. Saltonstall prosecuted 
him. The case was tried at the session of the 
county court held in New London, September 20, 
1698. The verdict brought in found "for the plain- 
tiff six hundred pounds and costs of court £1 10s. 7? 

As the previous chapter has shown, the Rogerenes 
defied the Colonial laws relating to marriage. A 
sequel to the story of the union of John Rogers and 
Mary Ransford is told, which illustrates the collis- 
ion which often took place between them and Mr. 
Saltonstall, in which he was pretty likely to get the 
best of the controversy. The Rogerene nuptials took 
place in 1700. Sometime after, Mr. Saltonstall met 



saltonstall's pastorate. 213 

them together and, assuming an air of incredulity 
and surprise, asked, " John, do yon really and truly 
take this your servant maid for your wife ? Do you, 
Mary, take this man, so much your senior for 
your husband ? " Both gave an affirmative answer. 
"Then," said Mr. Saltonstall, "I pronounce you, 
according to the laws of this Colony, man and wife." 
Mr. Saltonstall had the right to perform the cere- 
mony, and so in spite of themselves they were mar- 
ried according to the requirements of the statutes 
which it was part of their creed to despise and ignore. 
Rogers, seeing himself outwitted, shook his head 
and replied, " Ah, Gurdon, thou art a cunning crea- 
ture." Something like this may have taken place. 
The story serves to illustrate the defiance of the civil 
order by these people, when it came in conflict with 
their views. And it shows how they must have been 
a disturbing element in the parish, and a ceaseless 
annoyance to Mr. Saltonstall, who insisted on obe- 
dience to the established order, whether civil, or 
ecclesiastical. 

The famous Liveen legacy came into the hands of 
the town during the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall. It 
was given by the terms of the will, " to the ministry 
in New London," Mrs. Liveen to have the use of 
one-third of it during her life. This seems to have 
been the first gift for the purpose of supporting the 



214 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

gospel which this Church received. Mr. Liveen was 
an Englishman by birth. He married Alice Hallam 
who was the widow of a trader in Barbadoes. She 
had an estate of about £200 which, with the business 
of her former husband, came into the hands of Mr. 
Liveen. At Mr. Liveen's death, October 19, 1689, 
his will was executed, and his estate came into the 
hands of the town for the purposes specified. 

The will was a peculiar one for two reasons. One 
was that the two sons of the man who laid the foun- 
dation for the fortune, and accumulated a consid- 
erable portion of it, Nicholas and John Hallam, 
received nothing from their father's estate. The will 
was contested. The case was carried up through the 
courts to the throne, where the decisions of the lower 
courts were confirmed, and the town was established 
in the possession of the property under the provisions 
of the will. 

Another reason why the will was peculiar was that 
Mr. Liveen was an Anabaptist ; that is, one who held 
that it was necessary for those who had been baptized 
in infancy to be rebaptized. During his residence in 
New London he was never known to attend any relig- 
ious meeting in town. His business often took him 
to Boston. While there he went to hear Mr. Mil- 
bourne at the Anabaptist Church. These occasions 
were his only attendance on religious services in 



SALTONST ALL'S PASTORATE. 215 

America from the time of his coming to New London 
in 1676 till he died. 

The executors of this peculiar will were General 
Fitz-John Winthrop and Edward Palmes. The prop- 
erty made over to the town ' ' consisted of two dwell- 
ing houses, a large lot attached to one of the houses, 
now forming the north side of Richards street and 
extending from the old burying ground to the cove ; 
and in money £300 sterling, equal to 780 ounces of 
silver, which was left in the hands of the executor." 
Mr. Palmes withdrew and Mr. Winthrop was the 
sole executor. After the expenses of defending the 
will were paid, the sale of the lands belonging to 
the estate, together with the Liveen money at 
interest aggregated about £1900, the income from 
which was nearly sufficient for the salary of the min- 
ister for many years. The fund remained long after 
1738, but from one cause or another it has melted 
away till not a farthing of it remains, and that leg- 
acy, which was so large a factor in the support of the 
gospel during Mr. Saltonstall's pastorate, and later, 
now exists only as a fact of history. "Whether its 
disappearance was due to bad investments or to the 
mismanagement of the executors, or to a worse 
cause, nothing appears to determine. 

During the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall in the year 
1699, two solid silver communion cups were presented 



216 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

to the Church by Christophers and Picket, the owners 
of the ship Adventure. These cups are still in use. 
The vigorous nature of Mr. SaltonstalPs adminis- 
tration as a magistrate, was not altogether absent 
from his methods of Church discipline. He was an 
advocate of strict ecclesiastical order, and was as in- 
sistent in asserting his authority as custodian of the 
affairs of the Church, as in requiring obedience to his 
decisions as a civil magistrate. The strong features 
of the Saybrook Platform, which became a part of 
the ecclesiastical law of the Colony early in his admin- 
istration, are his finger marks on it. He was dis- 
posed to deal in a severe and summary way with all 
who dissented from the established order. The pastor 
of those times was clothed with quite as much author- 
ity, both civil and ecclesiastical, as the pastor of to- 
day. Mr. Saltonstall was a magistrate as well as 
pastor. Among the people he had the reputation of 
being imperious ; perhaps not altogether without rea- 
son. His hand was sometimes heavy upon offenders, 
though often less so than was represented. He was 
careful to maintain the discipline of the Church, and 
offenders against its purity, its order, and its rules, 
were called to account. The following, taken from 
the records of the Church, will serve to illustrate this 
phase of Mr. SaltonstalFs administration of its 
affairs. Samuel Fox, who joined the Church under 



217 

Mr. Bradstreet, was " excommunicated for pertina- 
cious contempt of the holy covenant and ordinances," 
August 6, 1699. This was the only case of excom- 
munication recorded. But several were suspended 
from Church privileges because they were under 
offence. Thus May 26, 1700, James Avery, Jr., a 
member of this Church, had his child baptized "in 
right of his wife, he being under offence." June 5, 
1701, Robert Allen's children were baptized " in 
right of his wife, he being under offence in signing a 
paper containing several false and scandalous things 
and not manifesting repentance." He also was a 
member of the Church. Edward Avery was also 
under censure for a like offence ; for the records pre- 
serve the fact of his reconciliation. There are many 
examples which show that the Church, under the 
11 Parish way," exercised a watchful supervision over 
the life and conduct of those who were not in full 
communion, as well as those who were. For the rite 
of baptism was repeatedly refused to the children of 
those who had been living disorderly until they had 
acknowledged their sin, professed repentance, and 
given satisfaction to the Church. Such records show 
that Mr. Saltonstall had very decided views as to 
Church discipline, and that he was not remiss in the 
discharge of his duty. It is not unlikely that his 
faithful and prompt administration won enemies for 



218 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

him among his parishioners, and helped to produce 
the popular impression that he was severe and im- 
perious. For people did not like any better then than 
now to be called to account for misdemeanors. 

He is described as tall, well proportioned, and of 
dignified bearing, which did not invite familiarity. 
Doubtless this added to the impression that he was 
rigorous in the exercise of authority. But among 
his brethren in the ministry he enjoyed unbounded 
popularity. Like Paul, he magnified his office. He 
loved synods, and was inclined to the more rigorous 
forms of ecclesiastical government. In his theologi- 
cal views he was strictly orthodox. 

Probably as a result of his rigorous administration 
of discipline a number of the leading members of his 
Church on the east side of the river became dissatis- 
fied with his ministry. A list of ' ' Complaints against 
the Elder of the Church of Christ in new London 7 ' 
was drawn up in 1700, and signed by five members. 

These complaints were presented to the General 
Court, May 9 of that year, and by that body were 
referred to an ecclesiastical council. The council 
met at Killingworth, considered them and reported 
the result to the Church. The following minute was 
entered upon the records: "June 12, 1700, a coun- 
cil was convened consisting of the churches at Say- 
brook, Lyme, Killingworth, Stonington, Norwich, 



saltonstall's pastorate. 219 

Preston, and Messengers from the same churches; 
upon occasion of a paper of complaints against the 
Elder of the Church of Christ in New London and 
others, signed by 5 members of said church viz. 
Lieut. James Avery, John Morgan, Sam 1, Bill, John 
Fox and John Morgan Jr. and presented to and pub- 
lished in the last general assembly sitting at Hart- 
ford May 9, 1700 by James Avery, John Morgan and 
Edward Palmes. The said council was convened at 
the motion of said church in New London for their 
advice as to what was the said church's duty in ref- 
erence to said subscribing Brethren and others of the 
subscribers who were under the watch of said church. 
The result of said Reverend Councill thereupon was 
given in June 19, 1700, signed by said Elders and 
Messengers, the originall under their hands being 
preserved in this book, and was communicated to the 
Brethren of the First Church of Christ New London 
June 19, 1700 at a church meeting then appointed 
and convened." "The original under their hands" 
has been lost, and was never entered upon the min- 
utes of the Church. We are not informed as to the 
details of the findings of the council. But we know 
that, by its advice, the offenders were censured and 
suspended from the privileges of the Church, w T hich, 
as we have seen, was done in the case of James 
Avery, Jr., and others. 



220 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

This, however, did not end the matter. For a 
paper of remonstrance against this action was 
drawn up and signed by several, who were also 
suspended from Church privileges, till they should 
acknowledge their offence. Thus June 22, 1701, 
it is recorded that a certain John, whose last 
name does not appear, l ' having given satisfaction to 
the Church for his offence in signing the remon- 
strance, owned the covenant and had child baptized. 77 

What the complaints were, which were made 
against Mr. Saltonstail, we are not told, nor has any 
copy of them been preserved. But we may suppose 
that they related to the rigorous measures of disci- 
pline which he took with those who at all dissented 
from the established order, or called in question his 
methods and authority. Most of those who were 
under censure for this offence were afterwards rec- 
onciled to Mr. Saltonstail and restored to fellowship. 

Not long after the settlement of these difficulties 
a Congregational Church was gathered at Groton — 
the second child of this Church. As early as 1687 it 
was ordered that, for the convenience of those resid- 
ing on the east side of the river, ' ' they should have 
liberty to invite the minister of the town to preach on 
their side of the river every third Sabbath during the 
four most inclement months of the year. 77 About 
the year 1700 the inhabitants in that part of the 



saltonstall's pastorate. 221 

town began to move for a separate organization. The 
arrangement was finally effected amicably by vote 
of the town, February 20, 1704-5. In 1702 it 
was voted that the people on that side of the river 
should be permitted to organize a Church, to have a 
minister of their own, to pay him a salary of £70 a 
year, and to build a meeting house thirty-five feet 
square. This was to be done at the joint expense of 
the people on both sides of the river. A Church was 
organized, and Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge was or- 
dained as its first minister, November 8, 1704. A 
second society was organized in Groton in 1724, and 
is now the Church in Ledyard. Its first preacher 
was Samuel Seabury, who soon became an Episcopa- 
lian, went to Europe for ordination, and returned to 
minister to St. James Church, in New London. 

During the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall the princi- 
ples of the regular Baptists were planted in Groton. 
Valentine Wightman was ordained in Rhode Island. 
He came to Groton in 1705, was the first Baptist 
minister in Connecticut, and planted within its bor- 
ders the first Church of that denomination. He 
was active in planting other Churches of this name 
throughout the Colony, and in the city and state of 
New York. The Church which he founded in Groton 
is now the Baptist Church in Old Mystic. Its first 
house of worship was built on Fort Hill, and, it is 



222 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

said, was called the Pepper Box. Mr. Wightman was 
a scholarly man. He died in Groton, June 9, 1747. 
Mr. Saltonstall was a masterful preacher. It is 
said that his appearance in the pulpit was wonder- 
fully imposing and majestic ; the audience seemed 
enchained to his lips, and the eloquence of his eye 
was said to be no less impressive than that of his 
tongue. His fame spread rapidly, and it was consid- 
ered a great privilege to spend a Sabbath in New 
London and hear Mr. Saltonstall preach. The story 
is told that on some public occasion, like a conference, 
he preached six hours without a break, save that he 
paused long enough between two heads of his sermon 
for the people to eat their lunch, and with such power 
that he held his audience to the close. That he could 
find enough to say worth saying to fill up six hours, 
and keep people together to hear him to the end, 
sufficiently testifies to his ability as a preacher. The 
days had not yet dawned in which the sermon that 
lasts more than thirty minutes is a weariness to the 
flesh of the hearers. An article appeared in the 
Boston News Letter after his death which spoke of the 
11 concise fulness of his diction and style," the charm 
of his voice, the clearness and strength of his rea- 
soning, and the fitness and grace of his gestures, 
which made him heard "with satisfaction, delight 
and rapture." He was a scholarly man, as is shown 



saltonstall's pastorate. 223 

by the fact that he was able to pronounce an elegant 
oration in Latin upon the occasion of the final removal 
of Yale College from Say brook to New Haven. He 
was one of the great men of those times which begat 
great men for great emergencies. The Church had 
a wide and commanding influence under his ministry. 
In 1697 the honor of preaching the election sermon 
was conferred on him. 

Extracts from a sermon which he preached here 
December 19, 1702, will give an example of his meth- 
ods of thought, and style of public discourse. The 
text was Luke xix, 17 : u And sent his servants at 
supper-time to say to them that were bidden, come 
for all things are now ready." 

"These words declare what means God makes use of to 
bring sinners to a partaking in the way which is provided for 
us in the LoM Jesus Christ which is : The ministry of His Gos- 
pell The ministers of which are compared to a servant sent by 
the master of the feast to the guests that were bidden to come 
and eat of the entertainment provided for them. In which 
words we may observe : 

1. The originall of His Gospell ministry which is di- 
vine, * * * 

2. The persons employed in it are described — 

1. Royal Authority and Power ye have received from the 
Lord. * * * 

2. In the relation which ye sustain by virtue of their office 
were you stiled his servants. It is in a peculiar manner the 
Lord's work that ye are employed in. It is in his name that 
ye speak. * * * 

3. The persons to whom they were sent ; those that were 
bidden ; viz., such as were under Gospell offers of mercy, or 



224 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

such as God in his infinite mercy had made choice of to 
take. * * * 

4. The work or service which they were employed about ; 
with reference unto these ; viz., to persuade them to a due 
acceptation of that infinite mercy which was offered, to urge 
that invitation saying come. 

5. The speciall season wherein they were sent on this 
errand, supper-time, that very opportunity when what was 
offered might be sought and had. 

6. The way and manner wherein they were to perform this 
service ; viz., by usiug the most persuasive argument with 
them. "For all things are now ready." * * * If you be 
wise for yourselves, you will hearken to this voice. 

Doct. (Generall.) God's great end in giving the ministry 
of the Gospell to men is to bring them to accept of * * * 
mercy. * * * Now God doth not merely provide and ten- 
der these things, which he doth wherever the news of the 
Gospell comes, but he doth moreover urge your acceptance of 
them. * * * 

The subjects here spoken of unto whom the Lord sends his 
servants were such as were bidden to the Gospell feast. They 
were not ignorant what mercy God had prepared for sinners 
in Christ. The news of it had been brought to them, and 
they had been invited. * * * He doth not leave them 
thus, but sends his servants to these men, renews the invita- 
tion, and persuades them not to reject it, but to come as they 
were called; and receive what was made ready for them. 
Now this part of the ministeriall work which * * * in a 
due endeavor to win men's souls to a cordiall closing with the 
Gospell offers is what Christ sets before us in the words, and 
declares to be a principall end and use of that office in the 
church. 

1 Cone. God did from all eternity purpose the salvation of 
(some) of fallen men. There is nothing in time but what was 
in the counsell of God before time. God foresaw man's fall 
before man himself had a being. And * * * he did in 
infinite wisdom and Goodness order and overule it to the ad- 
vancement of his own Glory ; and did in his allwise Counsel 
resolve to improve it as an occasion for the illustration of his 



saltonstall's pastorate. 225 

mercy in and through Christ. * * * There was in the 
divine heart an eternal purpose of mercy towards miserable 
fallen man ; and a decree of heaven that tho the enemy of 
human society should * * * bring destruction upon the 
whole race of men, yet he should never triumph in that so full 
destruction but that some of them should be recovered out of 
his hands and become the eternal trophies of divine mercy. 

2 Cone. There was therefore provision made for the accom- 
plishing of this end. * * * I think that what God * * * 
intended was to glorifie his mercy and the salvation of sinners 
through Jesus Christ, and in order to that, permitted the fall, 
and so gave his son to redeem. * * * Man's fall would 
indeed render him a subject properly capable of mercy, but 
withal it would render him unworthy. * * * The justice 
of God would interpose and challenge the guilty. * * * 
Therefore God did provide an Atonement for us. 

3. And hence it follows that this mercy shall most certainly 
be applied; for nothing would be more unworthy of God than 
to suppose that, though he had prepared and made provision 
for it, that yet nothing shall come of it. * * * God hath pur- 
posed to show mercy unto men; provided mercy for us in 
Christ ; offers that mercy to men in the Gospell, and then 
leaves the matter wholly to us whether we will choose or re- 
fuse, and hence it follows that it depends on the will of man 
whether the purpose of God shall take effect or no. * * * 
We know the promises of the Lord shall stand. Psalm xxxiii, 
1\ m * * * That the efficacy of the divine purpose doth not 
depend upon reluctant wills of sinners, but the mercy which 
he hath purposed to bestow upon man shall take effect, and 
we shall be saved. 

4. Whereupon it became necessary that this mercy should 
be offered to men and accepted by them, for this purpose of 
God was in no ways destructive of, or repugnant to human 
nature, or that method of Government which God in his in- 
finite wisdom did exercise over them. * * * God would 
deal with him (man) as with a reasonable creature in bringing 
him to (bim). * * * God, when be made man at first * * * 
prescribed a law to him with threatenings and promises, and 
placed him under its government. * * * When man fell 



226 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

* * * he remained a reasonable creature still * * * 
and therefore the same generall method of government over 
him was as proper as at first. * * * The mercy he intends 
for men (or for any) must be offered, and they be brought to 
partake of it in a rational way i. e. by their own acceptance. 

5. This acceptation was, as to man, wholly impossible, for it 
was not only above his power, but contrary to his disposition. 
The fall brought a dreadful curse on all mankind. It did not 
only expose him to divine wrath in the world to come, but did 
wholly disable him from, yea render him the mortall enemy 
to the service and will of God. * * * 

And how can it be imagined that fallen man, so blind as not 
to know what makes for his own happiness, and so much an 
enemy to his own good as not to regard what he is told about 
it, should ever of his own accord fall in with the Gospell offers 
of mercy? Especially consider tis so contrary to our pride, 

* * * but to put the matter out of all doubt, the word 
fully declares the acceptance impossible by our own strength. 
Bom. viii, 7 : "Because the carnal mind is enmity against 
the law of God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be." 

6. There was therefore a necessity that means should be 
used with those whom God will save that they may be 
brought to accept the mercy tendered them. I speak of an 
hypothetical necessity, considering what God had purposed ; 
for if none had been used, but all mankind left to the inclina- 
tion of their own wills it is no hard matter to resolve what the 
enmity of their own hearts would put upon them ; and if, as 
the case now is, when God affords us so many means, and so 
great assistance, the righteous can scarcely be saved, then 
certainly we may conclude that if there was nothing done to 
breathe life into dry bones, even the elect should perish. 
Wherefore God having determined to show mercy to them, 
and that it should be offered so that they should accept it, it 
became requisite that if unwilling they should be made will- 
ing, it was promised, " thy people shall be made willing in the 
day of thy power." * * * 

The operation of the spirit is not a blind impulse upon the 



saltonstall's pastorate. 227 

hearts of men. * * * But as God hath made men free and 
rational agents, so when he doth by his spirit incline their 
hearts to close with the Gospell offers, he doth it in a rational 
way, and brings them to see that it is highly reasonable that 
he should do so. Wherefore not only the spirit acts in you 
but you act also and willingly yield yourself to the Gospell 
call. 

7. The ministry of God's word is a fit and proper means for 
this. * * * It is peculiarly adapted to this end, viz. to 
persuade men to accept this offered mercy. * * * 

8. Hence, lastly, it follows that this is one great end in 
giving a Gospell ministry to men. * * * In the text the 
servant was sent to such as were bidden. * * * He is sent 
* * * not to inform them * * * but to persuade them 
to accept the invitation to come, and therefor he uses an argu- 
ment to press the matter upon them without delay, for all 
things are ready." 

This, it must be said, is strong meat. Men and 
women accustomed to listen to such preaching were 
little likely to be weak. The doctrines emphasized 
leave no room to doubt that the author was a Cal- 
vinist. 

The years of revivals had not yet come. But such 
stalwart preaching prepared the ground, and main- 
tained the Church upon that firm evangelical basis, 
which his predecessors in office had established, and 
from which it has never been moved. 

The pastorate of Mr. Saltonstall covered a period 
when stringent Sabbath laws were in force. They 
were promptly executed. Their enforcement may 
seem to us severe, but it was in keeping with the 
spirit of the times. No law was treated as a dead 



228 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

letter. It expressed the prevailing public sentiment. 
Several entries upon the records o£ the Church 
and of the town, show that the morals of those times 
were not always spotless. There were breeches of 
virtuous living, violations of the law of social purity, 
riotous disturbances of the peace, quite as flagrant 
as any which occur now. Nevertheless those who 
were at the front were great men and women. 
Leaders in the beginnings of any people are made 
great by the necessities which called them forth. 
Strong hands and quick eyes must lay the foundation 
blocks. Men in colossal periods are of necessity 
strong j just as men lifting great weights must have 
brawny muscles lying along their thighs and arms 
and chests. Go into a furnace where men handle 
great masses of iron. See how their sinews are 
swollen with strength. Go into the workshop of the 
ages where Titans are forging great destinies, or 
casting great constitutions. Power and might are 
graven on every face, because these men are hand- 
ling mighty problems, and establishing great princi- 
ples. The men who have to do with the beginnings 
of the Church, of the State, are compelled to be 
great. The men who laid here the foundations of 
civil and religious liberty were great men. Among 
them all, as by far the ablest man of his day in Con- 
necticut, must be placed Gurdon Saltonstall — states- 



saltonstall's pastorate. 229 

man, scholar, preacher, and Christian gentleman of 
the courtly type of the olden days. He was a con- 
spicuous figure in the civil and religious history of 
Connecticut, and of New London, for thirty-seven 
years. He was a man of indomitable will, and was 
made of the same heroic stuff as the old Scotch Cove- 
nanters. He was a born statesman, and ended his 
life as chief magistrate of the Colony of which his 
great grandfather was one of the original patentees. 
He left the pastorate for the office of Governor Jan- 
uary 1, 1708. Nearly twenty years had elapsed 
since he came to New London to assume charge of 
the Church. Sixteen of these years he had been its 
regularly ordained pastor. We now turn to the 
gubernatorial office to trace his further career. 



XI. 

GURDON SALTONSTALL, GOVERNOR. 
January, 1708. — September, 1724. 



To leave the pastorate for the civil office of Gov- 
ernor was a step so unusual as to cause remark. 
Nor were the remarks always favorable. Thus 
Backus, in his Ecclesiastical History of those times, 
said, in an ill-natured vein: " Governor Winthrop 
died there (in Boston) November 27, 1707, upon 
which a special meeting of their General Court was 
called to choose a new Governor. By a law then in 
force, he was to be chosen out of a certain number 
of men in previous nomination ; but they broke over 
this law, and elected an ordained minister for their 
Governor ; and he readily quitted the solemn charge 
of souls for worldly promotion, and was sworn into 
his new office January 1, 1708, after they had re- 
pealed the law which they had broken." It was so 
unprecedented that the pastor of a Church should be 
summoned to leave his sacred calling, to attend to 
affairs of State, that the Assembly, by whom he was 
chosen, sent a committee of eight, including three 



THE GOVERNOR. 231 

deputies and the speaker of the House, to wait upon 
him in New London, and urge his acceptance of the 
office. This committee were charged with a letter 
addressed to the town, by the Assembly, "using 
arguments to induce them to acquiesce in the result." 
As a further persuasion a gratuity of £100 was given 
to New London, "as a compensation in part for de- 
priving the town of its former minister, Mr. Salton- 
stall," and to enable them to settle another pastor. 
The vote as recorded in the Colonial Records reads, 
' ' this Assembly upon the motion and desire of the 
inhabitants of New London and the arguments by 
them insisted upon, do grant to the said inhabitants 
£100 in pay out of the next countrie rate, towards 
the settling of a minister there." This vote was 
passed at the May session of 1708, when Governor 
Saltonstall took his seat after his first election by the 
people to be the fifth Governor of the State. Consid- 
ering the man, and the price for ministers now-a- 
days, the State got the best end of the bargain. The 
fact that the Assembly repealed the law which stood 
in the way of his election, so that he might be elected 
by the people, and the fact that he was re-elected 
every year till his death, September 20, 1724, prove 
that the Colony thought so too. There could not be 
stronger testimony to his conspicuous gifts of admin- 
istrative ability, to his justice as a magistrate, and to 



232 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

his sagacity as a statesman, than his repeated re-elec- 
tion by his fellow citizens. 

There is no record of town or Church relating to 
this event. It is likely that some were quite willing 
to have him go. Such a man as he would be sure to 
make enemies. He was too strong and positive in 
his convictions not to encounter opposition. But the 
loss to the Church and to the town was great, when 
such a leader and pastor was taken from them. The 
action of the Assembly shows that opposition was 
expected. Probably it was encountered. There is 
some evidence that the loss was felt. 

It is doubtful whether any other instance can be 
found in which the pastor of a church left the pulpit 
for the chair of state. But the early New England 
parson was a conspicuous factor in civil life. While 
he rarely took the reins of government into his own 
hands, yet his advice was always sought on important 
occasions; and that advice was often the basis of 
political action. Thus it was said of John Cotton 
il that whatever he delivered in the pulpit was soon 
put into an order of court, if of a civil, or set up as a 
practice in church, if of an ecclesiastical concern- 
ment." As early as 1634 Rev. Mr. Cotton preached 
to the deputies and officers who were to conduct the 
affairs of state. For the early thought of govern- 
ment was a theocracy, and the Bible was the chief 



THE GOVERNOR. 233 

political manual. So the minister, who knew most 
of the word of God, was resorted to for wisdom and 
guidance. From this preaching to the deputies by 
John Cotton came the practice of preaching election 
sermons. 

It is well known that Thomas Hooker was the first 
to enunciate the doctrine of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, that all governments derive their just 
powers from the consent of the governed, when he 
said that ' ' the foundation of authority is laid in the 
consent of the people," that "the choice of magis- 
trates belongs unto the people by God's own allow- 
ance," and that "they who have power to appoint 
officers and magistrates, have the right also to set the 
bounds and limitations of the power and place unto 
which they call them." These principles of a free 
State were the beginnings of constitutional govern- 
ment in the world, and they issued, says Mr. John 
Fiske, in the "first written constitution known to 
history that created a government, and it marked the 
beginnings of American Democracy, of which Thomas 
Hooker more than any other man deserves to be called 
the father." 

It was Nathaniel Ward, the minister of the Church 
in Ipswich, Mass., that prepared The Body of Liber- 
ties, which was the earliest written code of that 



234 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Colony, and was adopted by the General Court in 
1641. These facts go to show how naturally the 
parson of those early times appeared in politics, and 
help to explain how Mr. Saltonstall took so unusual 
a step as to leave the pulpit for the chair of state. 

Some other facts shed further light upon this 
action. Mr. Saltonstall inherited a judicial mind, 
and the gift of statesmanship. It was said of him 
after his death that ' l he had a great compass of 
learning, was a profound divine, a great judge in the 
law, and a consummate statesman." So that the 
General Assembly acted wisely when they removed 
the legal restriction which made him ineligible to the 
office of Governor. From the first of his pastorate 
he was associated with the leading men of the Colony. 
He was interested in public affairs. In 1693 he was 
invited by the General Assembly to accompany Fitz- 
John Winthrop, who was sent to England, as the 
Colony's agent, "to obtain in the best way and 
manner he shall be able, a confirmation of our charter 
privileges." It does not appear that Mr. Saltonstall 
went. But the fact of his appointment shows how 
prominent he was in civil affairs, while he was yet 
pastor of the church. 

During this period he was several times called upon 
to perform civil offices for the Colony. Thus in 1698 



THE GOVERNOR. 235 

the last Wednesday of February was appointed as a 
day of public thanksgiving to God for ' ' the restora- 
tion of peace to the English Nation, and the success 
& safe return of our agent ; and the Rev. Mr. 
[Timothy] Woodbridge and Mr. Saltonstall are de- 
sired to draw a bill for that end." In 1700 he was 
one of a committee appointed by the General Assem- 
bly "for composing the differences in Haddum." 
At another time he was appointed on a committee to 
wait upon the Earl of Belmont on his arrival in 
New York, "in the name of the Governor, Council 
and Representatives of this Colony, to congratulate 
the happy arrival of his excellency." The election 
sermon which he was chosen to preach May 13, 1697, 
seems to have been a production of considerable power, 
as copies of it, by the direction of the legislature, 
were u divided to the several counties, proportionably 
according to the lists of the several counties. ' ' These 
incidents, not common to the life and experience of a 
pastor, show how naturally he was drawn into active 
participation in public affairs. The Hon. Fitz-John 
Winthrop was his friend and parishioner. His 
relations with Mr. Winthrop brought Mr. Saltonstall 
into immediate knowledge of Colonial matters. 

After Mr. Winthrop was made Governor in 1698, 
he often called upon his pastor for advice and assist- 
ance. Palfrey says that during the last of his 



236 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

administration Winthrop was so disabled by gout that 
most of his official correspondence was conducted by 
his friend and pastor, Gurdon Saltonstall. The editor 
of the "Winthrop Papers says : " It is true that his 
health had long been a good deal impaired, and for 
this reason he more than once desired to be relieved 
of the governorship, but the people of Connecticut 
were unwilling that he should retire. It is also true 
that he had grown to place much reliance on the 
wisdom and capacity of Saltonstall, who was not only 
his intimate friend and neighbor, but pastor of the 
church in which he worshipped." 

When Governor Winthrop went to Boston, Novem- 
ber 13, 1707, to attend the second marriage of his 
brother, Wait Still Winthrop, as was his custom he 
left his affairs in the hands of Mr. Saltonstall, as 
Governor pro tern. While in Boston Mr. Winthrop 
was seized with a fatal illness and died November 
27. The deputy, Robert Treat, was advanced in 
years. Mr. Saltonstall was acting Governor. There- 
fore when the General Assembly was summoned to 
New Haven to choose a successor to Mr. Winthrop, 
December 17, 1707, their thoughts naturally turned 
to the man who was already exercising the functions 
of that office, and whose experience in public affairs, 
as the friend and adviser of their late Governor, 
fitted him to hold the place as the choice of his peers. 



THE GOVERNOR. 237 

But the law of the Colony required, as Backus 
pointed out, "that the governor should always be 
chosen out of a list of magistrates nominated at the 
preceding election." Mr. Saltonstall was not in 
nomination, and was not eligible. Therefore at a 
special session, January 1, 1708, this law was 
repealed, and Mr. Saltonstall was chosen by the 
deputies to act as Governor till an election could be 
had by the people ; which took place in May 1708, 
when he was made Governor by the will of the free- 
men of the Colony. Thus by natural fitness, and by 
natural steps, he came to be the chief magistrate of 
Connecticut. 

His official life was marked by two conspicuous 
events, which were destined to exert a lasting and 
beneficent influence upon the religious and intellectual 
life of the Colony. One, and not the least memora- 
ble, was the famous Synod of Saybrook, called by 
order of the Governor and General Assembly, and 
which produced that venerable document, the Say- 
brook Platform, which, it is said, he had a hand in 
shaping. Proposals for a scheme of government by 
' ' a classical power above the churches ' J had been 
defeated. On the thirteenth of May, 1708, the Gen- 
eral Assembly of the Colony, on account of " defects 
of the discipline of the churches of this government 
arising from the want of a more explicit asserting of 



238 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

the rules given for that end in the holy scriptures," 
and for the u glory of Christ our head," ordered that 
the ministers of the several Churches should meet ' ' at 
Saybrooke, at the next commencement to be held 
there," to prepare a u form of ecclesiastical disci- 
pline " to "be offered to this court at their next 
session at New Haven October next, to be consid- 
ered and confirmed by them." In obedience to this 
command the Saybrook Synod met at that place, 
which was then the home of Yale College, September 
9, 1708, and produced the venerable document already 
referred to. It was submitted to the General Assem- 
bly, as ordered, and the following vote was passed, 
October 1708: "This Assembly, do declare their 
great approbation of such a happy agreement, and do 
ordain that all the churches within this government 
that are or shall be united in doctrine, worship and 
discipline, be, and for the future shall be owned and 
acknowledged established by law ; provided, always, 
that nothing herein shall be intended or construed to 
hinder or prevent any church or society that is or 
shall be allowed by the laws of this government, who 
soberly differ or dissent from the united churches 
hereby established, from exercising worship and dis- 
cipline in their own way, according to their con- 
sciences." This sounds very much like an estab- 
lished Church, only in this case the State Churches 



THE GOVERNOR. 239 

were Congregational. The vote was in accord with. 
the spirit of the Governor and of the times. A 
Church in some way under the protection and patron- 
age of the State was thought to be essential. Eccle- 
siastical questions, and questions of doctrine and 
discipline were taken to the legislature as to a sort of 
standing ecclesiastical body or court. The provision 
made for dissent, however, saved the action of the 
legislature from being compulsory, and opened the 
way for Churches which declined to come within 
this establishment. 

This Church was among the number which availed 
themselves of this privilege of dissent. Dr. Field 
says that Mr. Saltonstall's "great influence was not 
sufficient to induce the church to adopt the Saybrook 
Platform of discipline." 

The second conspicuous event, destined to exert a 
wide influence on the intellectual life of the Colony, 
and of the whole land, was the final removal of Yale 
College to its permanent home at New Haven. This 
was not brought about without a controversy. Of 
course Saybrook wanted to keep it. If it was to be 
moved, other places claimed it. JohnWinthrop, son 
of Wait Still Winthrop, wrote to his father October 
24, 1717: u there is great disturbance in the Colony 
about the college. The last year Mr. Stonington 
Noyes was violent for keeping it at Saybrooke, or else 



240 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

they should lose the old Governor's [Yale's] legacy 
to it, but since his son is settled in Mr. Pierpont's 
place and house, he has without leave or order from 
the Assembly or trustees moved it to New Haven, 
and ordered a building to be erected for the purpose, 
which is almost finished." Mr. Pierpont, referred 
to above, was one of the original trustees of the 
college, and pastor of the First Church in New 
Haven. That Mr. Winthrop's son was wrong ap- 
pears from the fact that at a meeting of the trustees 
held at Saybrook, April 4, 1716, it was practically 
decided to remove the college from that town. On 
the 12th of September commencement was held 
there, and the trustees adjourned to meet at New 
Haven on the 17th of October, which may be regard- 
ed as the date of its establishment in its present 
home. At that meeting they voted that " consider- 
ing the difficulties of continuing the collegiate school 
at Saybrooke, and that New Haven is a convenient 
place for it, for which the most liberal donations are 
given, the trustees agree to remove the said school 
from Saybrooke to New Haven, and it is now settled 
at New Haven accordingly." This vote, which was 
passed October 17, 1716, was declared legal by the 
upper house at the October session of 1717. The 
commencement of that year was held at New Haven 
in September. The prompt action of the upper 



THE GOVERNOR. 241 

house, confirming the action of the trustees the year 
before (1716) was due, in part at least, to the influ- 
ence of Governor Saltonstall, who favored the estab- 
lishment of the college at New Haven. The vote at 
the October session (1717) which advised the trust- 
ees "to proceed in that affair, and to finish the 
house which they have built at New Haven for 
the entertainment of the scholars belonging to the 
collegiate school," prevailed by thirty-six votes. This 
vote was modified by a vote to distribute one hundred 
pounds among the instructors of the college, in the 
three competing places, Wethersfield, Saybrook and 
New Haven," according to the proportion of scholars 
under their tuition." At the commencement Sep- 
tember 12, 1718, held at New Haven, the college 
was named after its most generous donor, Mr. Elihu 
Yale. His excellency, the Honorable Gurdon Salton- 
stall, was present, and " was pleased to crown the 
public exercises with an elegant Latin oration, in 
which he expatiated upon the happy state of the 
college, as fixed at New Haven, and endowed with 
so many benefactions. He particularly celebrated 
the generosity of Governor Yale, with peculiar 
respect and honor." Thus Governor Saltonstall's 
administration was identified with an educational 
movement of far reaching importance. He had a 



242 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

hand in laying the foundations of one of the foremost 
universities not only of this, but of all lands. 

Various important events of a political nature also 
contributed to make the period of his official life con- 
spicuous. Those were days of narrow resources for 
the Colony; so much so that often its agent in 
London found it difficult to collect his salary. There 
was need of money to raise troops for an armed 
descent upon Nova Scotia ; to repel threatened attacks 
of the Indians ; to guard the coast from assaults by 
French ships; and for various other purposes. The 
Colony had to borrow money, and issued bills of 
credit, amounting in all to £33,500 ; all of which were 
finally called in, and the debts of the Colony paid. 

Disputes with adjoining Colonies concerning boun- 
dary lines also came up for settlement and furnished 
perplexing questions for his administration to con- 
sider. The controversy with Massachusetts, which 
often became a quarrel between the border towns as 
to the ownership of property, was finally adjusted. 
" Upon the 13th of July, 1713, commissioners fully 
empowered from each of the Colonies, came to an 
agreement which was adopted by each court." The 
decision gave 107,793 acres to this Colony as an 
equivalent for the encroachment of Massachusetts 
upon its territory. Trumbull says, " the whole was 
sold in sixteen shares in 1716, for the sum of £683 



THE GOVERNOR. 243 

New England currency. The money was applied to 
the use of the college." 

The lines between Connecticut and New York on 
the west and Rhode Island on the east were not set- 
tled till after Governor Saltonstall's death. In the 
final adjustment this Colony lost considerable terri- 
tory which belonged to it under the original charter. 
Trumbull says, "no colony perhaps had ever a better 
right to lands comprised in its original patent than 
Connecticut, yet none has been more unfortunate 
with respect to the loss of territory." Long Island, 
Fisher's Island, and others along the coast, were 
included in the original grant of Charles I to Robert, 
Earl of Warwick, and by him ceded to Sir Richard 
Saltonstall and ten others March 19, 1631. Out of 
deference to the Duke of York the Assembly gave 
up this and other territory to New York ; for Charles 
II had l ' granted a great part of the lands contained 
within its (Connecticut's) original limits," to him; 
and the Assembly did not dare oppose this disposi- 
tion of its territory ' ' for fear of offending those royal 
personages and losing their charter." Trumbull says 
further, " considering the enemies and difficulties 
with which they had to combat, it is admirable that 
they retained so much territory, and so nobly defended 
their just rights and liberties." In all these trans- 
actions during his administration, the hand of Gov- 



244 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ernor Saltonstall was seen, as a vote of the Assembly 
declares. For at the October session of 1720 this 
body resolved "that proper acknowledgements, be 
made to the honorable Governor for his great pains, 
industry, wisdom and prudence improved in that 
affair concerning the line between this Colony and 
Rhode Island." 

Another perplexing dispute which the Colony was 
forced into by Joseph Dudley, the sworn enemy of 
Connecticut, was the adjustment of claims made fco 
lands by Owaneco and the Mohegans. The case, in 
1705, went against the Colony. But it was reopened, 
upon petition of Connecticut, and the former decision 
was reversed, u by King George III in Council. 7 ' It 
was further decided that the Indians had been dealt 
with fairly and justly, and with " much humanity." 

Various attempts were made to compel Connect- 
icut to surrender her charter. One, already referred 
to, was the demand in the King's name, made upon 
Governor Treat by Sir Edmund Andros. The char- 
ter, which mysteriously disappeared during the dis- 
cussion concerning this demand was concealed by 
Captain Joseph Wads worth in the hollow of an oak, 
which became known as the Charter Oak. At the 
May session of the Colonial Legislature, 1715, it was 
voted, "upon consideration of the faithful and good 
service of Captain Joseph Wadsworth, of Hartford, 



THE GOVERNOR. 245 

especially in securing the duplicate charter in a very- 
troublesome season when our constitution was struck 
at, and in safely keeping and preserving the same 
ever since unto this day, this Assembly do, as a token 
of their grateful resentment of such, his faithful and 
good service, grant him out of the Colony treasury 
the sum of twenty shillings." This bill became law, 
and therefore must have received the signature of 
Governor Saltonstall. 

Another effort was made before Parliament, Octo- 
ber 27, 1712, to vacate the charter. Connecticut's 
rights were successfully defended by Sir Henry 
Ashurst, its agent in London. The Colony was in so 
sore financial straits that the council were constrained 
to accept the offer of the Governor to give the Col- 
ony credit in England upon his own account. Else 
the charter would not have been defended. These 
attempts to merge this Colony in some other, and to 
take away its charter, show the stubborn, and withal 
successful, fight for autonomous existence which 
Connecticut was making during the administration 
of Governor Saltonstall. At the October session, in 
1718, the Assembly voted " that the secretary draw 
out a copy of the charter of this government and 
transmit the same, as soon as he can, to the printer, 
who is ordered to imprint the same, and take off at 
least two hundred copies thereof for the use of the 



246 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

inhabitants of this Colony. " At the session of May, 
1720, it was voted to pay Timothy Green, of New 
London, £4. 3s. 8d. for printing the charter. This 
charter which was so sturdily defended, and which 
the administration of Governor Saltonstall handed 
down to posterity in a printed form, continued in 
force, as the fundamental law of the State till 1818, 
and was the basis of the present constitution . 

The times were stirring and tumultuous when Gur- 
don Saltonstall assumed the chair of office. It was 
during the French and Indian war. There was a 
running fight with the Indians, breaking out some- 
times into such open violence as the Pequot war in 
the last half of the 17th century. The colonists were 
kept in a state of continual unrest. French vessels 
frequently appeared in the Sound and threatened the 
coast. At one time at least New London was fired 
upon. Two or three times between 1690 and 1713 
Connecticut was called upon to furnish troops for 
expeditions against Canada, which formed a marked 
feature of the Colonial history of New England. On 
one occasion this Colony furnished 350 men. In 
May, 1709, Governor Saltonstall wrote to Sir Henry 
Ashurst that the Queen's (Anne) order had been re- 
ceived, to join Massachusetts with 400 men, and pro- 
ceed against Canada, and that these men had been 
raised according to Her Majesty's instructions. These 



THE GOVERNOR. 247 

enterprises were o£ frequent occurrence, and con- 
sumed the resources of the country without compensa- 
tion. During the year 1711 French vessels kept the 
people in a state of constant apprehension. During 
the same year French ambassadors visited Governor 
Saltonstall at his home in New London ; for what pur- 
pose does not appear. In 1712 he carried out the 
suggestion which he had made to Fitz-John Win- 
throp in 1690, and erected a beacon on the west 
end or Fisher's Island, and placed a guard there 
to prevent surprise by the French privateers which 
infested the coast, and did considerable damage to the 
shipping of New London, and threatened New York. 
The following is a copy of the Governor's procla- 
mation, signed by his own hand, during the Queen 
Anne's and Indian war. It is interesting as showing 
the inducements offered to volunteers in those days : 

By the Honourable Gurdon Saltonstall, Esqr , Gouernour and 

Commander in Chief of Her Majestie's Colony 

of Connecticut in New England. 

A Pboclamation. 

Whereas, The General Assembly of this Colony have grant- 
ed 300 men, to Serue in the Expedition Her Majestie hath 
appointed for the Reduction of Port Royal and Nova Scotia, 
under the Comand of the Hon ble Col Francis Nicholson, as 
General of all the forces in the said Expedition, and the 
Hon ble William Whiting, Esq., as Colonell of the Regiment to 
be Raised in this Colony for the said Service — 

For the incouragement of able body'd Persons to inlist 



248 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

themselves Voluntiers in the Same, I do hereby, by & with 
the advice of the Councill and at the desire and with the Con- 
sent of the Representatives in General Court assembled, 
assure all such persons who shal voluntarily inlist themselves 
for the said Service with the Captain or other Chief Officer of 
the Respective Companies to which they belong, or the Major 
of the County in which they reside, that they shall each of 
them have a Coat of the Vallue of thirty Shillings, a fire lock 
of the vallue of forty Shillings, three years freedom fromm all 
Impresses to serve out of this Colony, & one months pay in 
hand before they go out of the Colony, go under our own 
officers & return home as soon as Port Royal and Nova 
Scotia are reduced, or the Espedicon otherwise determined. 
Given under my hand in Newhaven the 9th day of August, in 
the 9th year of her Majestie's Reigne, Anno Dom. 1710. 

G. Saltonstall. 
God save the Queen. 

Thus for the first five years of his administration 
Governor Saltonstall was as truly a war Governor as 
was Governor Buckingham during the War of the 
Rebellion. Taxes were high, rating at twenty-seven 
or twenty-eight pence a pound. October 8, 1713, 
there were only thirty-eight taxable towns in the 
Colony, and forty sent delegates. Forty-five towns 
were under the exclusive jurisdiction of Connecticut. 
The grand list of the Colony was £281,083. Its 
militia amounted to about 4,000 effective men. Its 
population was about 17,000. [Trumbull, vol. i, 
p. 476. J The tax of war upon so small a population 
of slender means must have been heavy. It there- 
fore must have been a day of rejoicing when, August 



THE GOVERNOR. 249 

22, 1713, the Governor and Council were able to 
proclaim to the Colony the peace of Utrecht, which 
had been signed by the plenipotentiaries of England 
and France March 30 of that year. 

There were good reasons why Governor Saltonstall 
did not find the gubernatorial chair an easy one. 
The oppositions of jealousy, which a strong man is 
almost certain to awaken, added to the difficulties he 
had to encounter. One Mr. Witherell writes of 
u evil minded persons, 77 who were doing their best 
to hinder the prosperity of the Colony. This op- 
position was such that he seriously contemplated 
refusing to continue in the office. For a letter from 
Sir Henry Ashurst, written June 27, 1709, says, "I 
pray let no discouragements suffer you to entertain a 
thought of leaving the government God hath called 
you to. By what I have heard, there are none to 
supply your room." At the May session of 1715, 
the General Assembly passed a vote which shows 
that the enemies of this great and good man were 
still awake and active. The vote, as recorded in v the 
Colonial Records, is as follows, "This Assembly, 
having made enquiry after, and considered the repre- 
sentation which the honorable Governor made of 
some slanderous report, very grievous, supposed to 
be industriously scattered among the people by some 
ill minded and seditious persons, cannot understand 



250 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

the least ground for any such reports — do therefore 
desire the judges and justices would take utmost care 
for the suppressing of such ill practice j and do 
further signify their earnest desire that his honor 
would continue the service of God and his country in 
the office whereunto he is elected." This was com- 
plete and triumphant vindication of his honor, his 
purity, his integrity. But the most triumphant vin- 
dication against every slander was the fact of his 
yearly re-election by his fellow citizens from 1708 till 
he died in 1724. And it is to be remembered that, 
while Governors were appointed for other Colonies by 
the Crown, Connecticut from the first elected hers 
from among her own citizens. 

For sixteen and a half years Mr. Saltonstall was 
Governor by the will of the people. He was elected 
seventeen times to the office. He was present at 
thirty-six sessions of the General Court, and at two 
hundred and thirty-seven meetings of the Governor 
and Council, which were held at Hartford, New 
Haven, Say brook and New London. He was ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief of the Colony's forces; 
was appointed in 1709 to represent the Colony in 
England ; was made judge of the superior court by 
vote of the General Assembly ; assisted at the request 
of the same body in the revision of the laws of the 
State. In short, he discharged the duties of his high 



THE GOVERNOR. 251 

office in most critical times, with the most signal 
ability, insomnch that his rare executive qualities 
were recognized abroad as well as at home. He 
was easily the first man of his times in Connect- 
icut, and the encomiums pronounced upon him after 
his death cease to seem extravagant when the facts 
of his life are studied. He was Governor in times 
which demanded a strong hand and an unflinching 
will at the head of affairs. His yearly re-election 
to office, till death took him away, shows that in the 
view of his peers, he was the man for the tiroes. He 
was born to rule. There was the ring of command in 
his voice, and an aspect of authority in his mien. It 
must have been an imposing sight to see His Excel- 
lency, when invested with the authority of the State, 
proceeding at the head of his household to the house 
of God, to engage in devout worship. It does not 
require a very vivid imagination to hear the tramp 
of battalions in his majestic step, and to see the 
movement of armies in his dignified bearing. He was 
by far the ablest Governor which Connecticut had had, 
and easily commanded the place of honor. A care- 
ful review of his life must impress one with the 
justice and probity with which he discharged all 
public trusts committed to him. 

Before we close this review of his public life, a few 
facts concerning him may be added, illustrative of 



252 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

his strong personality, and pointing out his relations 
to the town and to private life. 

By an act of the Colonial Legislature, May 13, 
1703, an addition was made to the bounds of New 
London, and the Governor was made one of its pa- 
tentees. There was a tract known as the junior com- 
mons, embracing the land lying along Bank street, 
and between it and the water. These commons be- 
came a source of contention. One party maintained 
that they belonged equally to the whole body of voters, 
and that they had power to dispose of them in town 
meeting. Another party, led by the Governor, con- 
tended that these lands were solely the property of 
the patentees. A town meeting was called April 
23, 1722, to consider what disposition the voters 
wished to make of them. The Governor wrote a vig- 
orous letter on that date, addressed u To the inhabi- 
tants of New London, assembled in Town Meeting 
April 23, 1722, Friends and Neighbors." In it he 
gave the town to understand that these undivided 
lands did not lt still remain in the town's hands to dis- 
pose of as town meeting shall cause." He supported 
his statements by quoting the act of the General 
Assembly declaring c ' that those lands which had not 
been before settled and disposed of did belong to s d 
proprietors of them," of which he was one. He 
closed his communication with the hope that the town 



THE GOVERNOR. 253 

would consider his protest ' ' and not be tempted fur- 
ther into any such discords." However, lest the 
voters should disregard his warning, he added I " do 
therefore hereby as one of the said Patentees and 
Proprietors of s d Patent, as also in the name of all 
the proprietors afors d , * * * declare and protest 
against those and all such votes, acts, and doings of 
or in any town-meeting, and the recording of them as 
illegal, and contrary to s d resolve and just rights of s d 
proprietors." The town had no difficulty in under- 
standing what His Excellency meant to say. His 
warning and protest had the desired effect, and 
proved the strength of his influence among his fellow 
townsmen. 

The Governor was a considerable land holder, not 
only in New London, but elsewhere. He inherited 
from Sir Richard Saltonstall a tract of about two 
thousand acres at Warehouse Point in the town of 
Windsor. Through his second wife, Elizabeth Ros- 
well, he came into possession of the "Furnace 
Farms' ' in Branford with certain other property. He 
also possessed a manor at Killingly in Yorkshire, 
England. This, with the Roswell estate he be- 
queathed to his son Roswell, who lived in the town of 
Branford. His will reads, " as it is the appointment 
of law, so it is also my will that my children," " Ros- 
well, Nathaniel, Gurdon, and Katherine should have 



254 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

all the real estate which I had by their mother de- 
ceased, and that my eldest son Roswell shall have a 
double portion thereof. * * * To my son Ros- 
well, as his double portion of the said ' maternal 
estate, the farm in Branford,' by the Iron "Works." 
This was the " Furnace Farms ' ' mentioned above. 
Roswell settled in Branford, upon this estate, and 
lived on it till he died in 1738. The will is a long 
document, and goes into details in the distribution of 
his property. The only other item pertinent to this 
history is the following : "I give to my son Gurdon 
and his heirs forever my house-lot with the dwelling- 
house thereon where I now live." This was the 
house which he built, and which was destroyed by 
Arnold when he burned New London. 

An impression prevails in some quarters that Mr. 
Saltonstall, after becoming Governor of the Colony, 
took up his residence by Lake Saltonstall, near New 
Haven. Mr. Thomas Trowbridge, in a paper read 
before the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 
February 21, 1876, advocated this view. Referring 
to the property known as the Furnace Farms, into 
whose possession the Governor came through his sec- 
ond wife, Mr. Trowbridge says, u the proximity of 
the land to New Haven and Hartford, the two capi- 
tals of the Colony, the facility of access to both cities 
at once determined the Governor to make it his resi- 



THE GOVERNOR. 255 

dence." He refers to the mansion which, it is said, 
Mr. Saltonstall built by the lake, and which still 
stands. Mr. Trowbridge continues, "the Governor 
continued to reside alternately here and in New Lon- 
don till his death in 1724." Doubtless he built the 
house in question. But that he made it his perma- 
nent residence, or resided alternately between Lake 
Saltonstall and New London, till his death, is true 
only in the sense that a resident of New York who 
spends his summers in New London, or in Newport, 
can be said to reside alternately between the two 
places. Mr. William Kingsley, in his history of 
Yale College, says that Mr. Saltonstall, soon after his 
choice as chief magistrate of the Colony, took u up 
his residence near New Haven in an elegant mansion 
which he built for himself on the banks of the beau- 
tiful lake which has since been known by his name." 
There is abundant evidence to show that this view 
is wrong; that Mr. Saltonstall never ceased to be a 
resident of New London, and that, with the exception 
of one summer, he stayed in New Haven only during 
the sessions of the Colonial Legislature. Let us 
examine the evidence. Robert Hallam, in his 
Annals, 1725 to 1875, says that Mr. Saltonstall, on 
being appointed Governor, ' l resigned his pastorate 
in New London, and filled prominent positions in civil 
life till his death in 1724, retaining his residence in New 



256 EARLY HISTORY OF THE PIEST CHURCH. 

London." Mr. Hallam's statement is borne out by- 
certain facts upon the records of the town. 
April 27, 1714, Governor Saltonstall served a notice 
on the citizens of New London, in town meeting there 
assembled, warning them that none but the original 
patentees or grantees and their heirs and assigns 
could vote for the disposition of the public lands. A 
more extended communication upon the same subject 
was sent to the town July 4, 1715. Both these, as 
well as the letter referred to on a previous page 
[252] were written at New London. He addressed 
the citizens as " friends and neighbors," and wrote 
as a local proprietor, and not as the resident of an- 
other town. 

But a stronger evidence is to be found in the rec- 
ords of the meetings of the Governor and Council 
during all the years of his official life. Of 230 such 
sessions 156 were held in New London, 41 in Hart- 
ford, and 33 in New Haven. But none were held in 
New Haven till July, 1711, while in 1708 two were 
held in Hartford, and in 1710 nine were held in New 
London. A significant fact about these meetings is 
that, with a few exceptions, which will be noted, 
those held at Hartford and New Haven were held 
during the sessions of the Colonial Legislature, while 
immediately on the adjournment of the General 
Assembly the Governor and Council met at New 



THE GOVERNOR. 257 

London through the remainder of the year save in a 
very few instances. Why were they held in New 
London so uniformly during the periods between the 
sittings of the legislature if the Governor's residence 
was near New Haven? For example, September 28, 
1711, the Governor and Council met at New London 
to provide for the fall session of the Colonial Assem- 
bly at New Haven. October 15, 25, 26, while that 
body was sitting the Council met at New Haven. 
The Assembly adjourned October 26. October 30 
there was a meeting of the Governor and Council at 
New London. Does not this point out that when his 
official duties connected with the session of the legis- 
lature were ended he returned to his residence, there 
to take up the routine of official duty ? A special 
session of the legislature was held in June, 1711, in 
New London, called by the Governor and Council 
to consider the matter of filling the quota of the Col- 
ony in the expedition against Canada, and to provide 
bills of credit for fitting them out. This seems to 
point to New London as the Governor's residence. 

The exceptions alluded to, in which the Governor 
and Council met at New Haven during months when 
the legislature was not in session, are, July and 
August, 1711, February 4, 1712, March 11, 1718, 
and September, 14 and 15, 1720. That is only four- 
teen sessions, out of the thirty- three held in New 



258 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Haven, were held during months when the General 
Assembly was not convened. He was unquestion- 
ably in New Haven during July and August, 1711. 
But no meetings of the Governor and Council, save 
those here noted, were held there, except when the 
legislature was in session. On the other hand from 
November 3, 1710, to August 31, 1724, a month 
before his death, the Governor and Council met every 
year, save 1718, at New London, and in the months 
when the legislature was not in session. This would 
seem to prove that Mr. Saltonstall continued to be a 
resident of New London. 

A still stronger reason for this view is found in 
certain documents and deeds, in the records of New 
London, which show that Governor Saltonstall was 
certainly a resident of and a property holder in the 
town, during the following years, viz.: 1709, 1710, 
1712, 1713, 1714, 1715, 1717, 1719, 1722, 1724. 
The missing years, save 1718, are supplied by the 
records of the meeting of the Governor and Council. 
So that we know that he was a resident of New 
London during his entire term of office. Thus there 
is an entry which reads as follows : " New London, 
July the first 1709 Matthew Jones, the above men- 
tioned grantor appeared before me, Gurdon Salton- 
stall Esqr., Governor of her Majesties Colony of 
Connecticut.' ' A similar record is dated September 



THE GOVERNOR. 259 

25, 1709. May 10, 1710, a deed, signed by Owaneco, 
sachem o£ Mohegan, names as one of the grantees, 
"Gurdon Saltonstall of New London aforesaid. 7 ' 
February 12, 1712, the Governor executed a deed 
which begins, "Know all men by these presents that 
I, Gurdon Saltonstall of New London" &c. Fur- 
ther, the Governor's will was dated at New London 
March 30, 1724, and begins : "I, Gurdon Saltonstall, 
of New London." And it will be remembered that 
in giving his house to his son Gurdon, he calls it ' ' the 
house where I now live." Thus we have his own 
testimony to the fact that he continued to be a 
resident of the town after he became Governor of 
the Colony. It is significant that the only time when 
he can be located at New Haven, by Lake Sal- 
tonstall, for any considerable period, was the sum- 
mer of 1711, less than a year after the death of his 
second wife. As his son Roswell settled upon this 
estate, it is not impossible that the lake got its name 
from him rather than from his distinguished father. 
After his death his son, Gen. Gurdon Saltonstall, 
continued to reside in his father's house in New 
London, which, as we have seen was bequeathed to 
him by the Governor's will. F. G. Saltonstall of 
New York writes, " the distruction of General Gur- 
don Saltonstall' s house, when Arnold burnt the 
Town, was the occasion of irreparable loss ; pictures, 



260 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

papers, all swept away." This was the house which 
the Governor built for himself when he came to New 
London. It was never the property of the town, or 
parish. 

Governor Saltonstall was thrice married. His first 
wife was Jerusha, daughter of James Richards of 
Hartford, who died in Boston, July 25, 1697. His 
second wife was Elizabeth, only child of William 
Rosewell of Branford, Conn. She died September 
12, 1710. His third wife was Mary, daughter of 
William Whittingham, and widow of William Clarke 
of Boston. She survived him and died in Boston in 
1729. He had five children by his first wife, two of 
whom died in infancy. Elizabeth was born May 11, 
1690. She married first Richard Christophers, and 
second Isaac Ledyard. Mary was born February 15, 
1691-2. She was baptized February 21. She married 
Jeremiah Miller. Sarah was born in 1694, and was 
baptized April 2 of that year. She married John 
Gardiner for her first husband, Samuel Davis for her 
second husband, and Thomas Davis for her third hus- 
band. Jerusha and Gurdon died in infancy. He had 
five children by his second wife. Roswell was born 
January 19, 1702, and was baptized January 25. He 
settled in Branford, his mother's native town. His 
wife was Mary Haynes. He died Oct. 1, 1738. Kath- 
erine was born June 19, 1704. Mr. Saltonstall made 



THE GOVERNOR. 261 

this entry of her baptism on the records of the 
Church. u June 25, my own daughter, who was 
born June 19 at two o'clock in the morning, Kath- 
erine." She married a Mr. Brattle. Nathaniel was 
born in 1706. The following is the record of his 
baptism: "July 7, my own son (born the Friday 
before) Nathaniel." He married Mrs. Lucretia Ar- 
nold, March 1, 1733. Gurdon was born December 
22, 1708, and was baptized by Rev. Eliphalet Adams, 
February 20, 1709, and was the first child to which 
he administered the ordinance after becoming pastor 
of the Church. He married Rebecca Winthrop in 
1733. Richard was born September 1, 1710 and lived 
but a few days. 

Governor Saltonstall died suddenly at his home in 
New London, from a stroke of apoplexy, September 
20, 1724, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and in the 
full possession of all his rare powers. The blow was 
felt throughout the Colony. A vast concourse of 
people gathered at his funeral. The loss was mourned 
throughout New England, as well as Connecticut. 
He was buried with solemn religious ceremonies and 
imposing military honors, in a tomb which he had 
prepared, in that ancient cemetery, which deserves to 
be called New London's Burial Hill. He still sleeps 
in that historic spot where rests the dust of so many 



262 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

o£ the men and women who had a hand in laying the 
foundations o£ this matchless harbor town. 

The high estimate put upon his worth of character 
and rare ability, may be learned from what was said 
of him after his death. The Boston Neivs Letter of 
October 1, 1724, said, u At twelve the next day he 
expired, to the almost unexampled sorrow of all that 
saw, or since have heard of it, not only through all 
that government, but the whole land." Rev. Elipha- 
let Adams said in a discourse delivered at his funeral, 
"Who did not admire his consummate wisdom, pro- 
found learning, his dexterity in business, and inde- 
fatigable application, his intimate acquaintance with 
men and things, and his superior genius ? And what 
was more than this, his unaffected piety and love to 
God's house, his exact life and exemplary conversa- 
tion J In what part of learning did he not excel 1 
He had mastered every subject which he undertook, 
and nothing could escape his penetration. How great 
did he appear whether in court or camp ! He was 
an oracle in law, and no man was better read, either in 
the agitated controversies, or abstruse points of di- 
vinity." 

Upon his death Dr. Cotton Mather, the famous 
Boston divine, preached a sermon October 1, 1724, 
"in commemoration of that good and great man, the 
Honorable Gurdon Saltonstall, Esq., late Governor 



THE GOVERNOR. 263 

of Connecticut," which was "printed by T. Green, 
1724," in New London. The text was Proverbs xi, 
11, "By the blessing of the upright the city is exalt- 
ed." Substituting the word "colony" for "city," 
he proceeds to set forth the doctrine that " A city, 
yea, every society that has men of a right character 
in it, will by the blessing of such men be remarkably 
blessed of God," and to apply it to Governor Salton- 
stall, in words like these, " Who are the men of rec- 
titude (in our translation called the upright) whom 
every city or society they belong to, will always fare 
better for ? A compendious, a comprehensive, and 
an unexceptionble answer might I at once give unto it, 
by only saying, l Mark the perfect man, and behold 
the upright,' who was lately to be seen at the helm 
of the government of the colony of Connecticut." In 
a letter of condolence to Mrs. Saltonstall, he speaks 
of him as ' ' one who had in him such uncommon 
collections of all that might render a person more pre- 
cious than the golden wedge of Ophir." In closing 
his discourse Dr. Mather said, "We will not call him 
a star, but even a constellation of the most fulgid 
endowments." " And yet these were his lesser ex- 
cellencies ; unspotted piety, inviolate integrity, exem- 
plary humanity, were what yet more potently bespoke 
for him a place among the excellent of the earth." 
Speaking of his assuming the gubernatorial office, 



264 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Dr. Mather said, tie " looked on the government cast 
upon him, to be but a betrustment for which he was 
accountable to the glorious one, who is the Lord of 
all." 

Much more might be quoted from the almost ful- 
some eulogies which were pronounced upon our fel- 
low townsman of a former generation. After mak- 
ing due allowances, we have left the irresistible 
conviction that he was a great man. 

He was one of a noble company of heroic men and 
women who helped to lay the foundations of the 
greatest nation of modern times. They made their 
age famous and colossal. One of the chief figures 
among his contemporaries, who was prominent in 
civil, social, educational and ecclesiastical affairs of 
this Colony, and of this city, for more than thirty- 
three years, was Gurdon Saltonstall. 



XII. 

THE DIACONATE. 

So far as can be ascertained the First Church of 
Christ has had forty deacons, including those now in 
office. We have, however, no positive knowledge of 
the existence of its diaconate previous to Mr. Brad- 
street ; only such as is to be gained from incidental 
sources. But these are sufficient to establish the 
fact, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there were dea- 
cons as early as 1655. Thus the diary of Thomas 
Miner says " Sabath day the 8 [of July, 1655] we 
had a sacrament." In the same year he speaks of 
" deacon perke." Who this was will appear. 

It would not be like a Congregational Church to 
go on for thirty years without these New Testament 
officers. Whether the sacrament administered July 
8, 1655, was the first we cannot tell. It may have 
been observed to signalize the entrance into the first 
meeting house which was completed early in that 
year. There must have been one or more deacons at 
that time. We give the list of those who we know 
have served this Church in that office. 



266 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

1. Thomas Park is placed first on the list, 
though there may have been others before him. He 
was the son of Robert Park, and came to New Lon- 
don with his father early in 1650. His wife was a 
sister of Mrs. Blinman. They lived on the south- 
west corner of Granite and Hempstead streets, as we 
have already seen. Mr. Robert Park came with his 
family to New England from Preston, Lancashire, 
England, in 1630, in the ship Arabella. They landed 
at Boston, and probably settled in Roxbury. About 
1635 they removed to Wethersfield. Their coming 
to Pequot was due largely, it may be presumed, to 
the fact that Mr. Blinman was to move here from 
Gloucester. 

It would be most natural for Mr. Blinman' s Church 
to choose his brother-in-law to serve in the office of 
deacon. Besides, there seems to have been the stuff 
that deacons are made of in the Park family. For 
Deacon William Park, of Roxbury, was his brother. 
We know that Thomas Park was chosen a deacon, 
from the diary of Thomas Miner. We have seen 
that he called him " deacon perke," under date of 
October 22, 1655. September 23, 1659, he wrote, 
" decon perke was at Misticke." Similar entries 
appear September 15, 1661, June 30, 1663, and later 
on. Who this "decon," or "deacon" Park or 
Perke was seems to be settled by this entry in. 



THE DIACONATE. 267 

Mr. Miner's diary for April 9, 1672: "Tuesday 
the 9th I was with deacon parke * * * the 10th 
day deacon parke and we wer at quanqutoge. the 
11th day mr. noyce and deacon prake and the com- 
pany was heare. I agreed with mr. noyce and Tho. 
park." So that u decon perke " was Thomas Park. 
Hon. Richard A. Wheeler, one of Thomas Park's 
descendants, says, u Dea. Parke of whom Thomas 
Miner speaks in his Diary was Thomas Park who 
came with his father, Robert Park, from Wethers- 
field to New London in the early part of the year 
1650." Mr. Wheeler also says "of what church 
Thomas Park was deacon I do not know unless it was 
your New London church. He was not, nor could he 
have been a deacon of the first Congregational church 
of Stonington, for our church was not organized 
until several years after he went to Preston to re- 
side." This, then, was the only Church of which he 
could have been deacon in 1655, when Mr. Miner 
gives him that title. Then it does not seem out of 
place to say that he officiated at the Lord's Supper, 
July 8 of that year, of which Thomas Miner speaks. 
He must have been chosen prior to that date. 

He lived a number of years at Mystic, within the 
bounds of Stonington. Some time before 1674 he 
removed to lands which belonged to him in the 
northern part of New London. In 1680 he was reck- 



268 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

oned as an inhabitant of the latter place. Later he 
was included in Preston, and was the first deacon of 
Mr. Treat's Church, organized in that town in 1698. 
He died July 30, 1709. When he laid down his 
office here we do not know. But it may have been 
when he moved to his lands in the northern part of 
New London, before 1674. 

2. John Smith came to New London from Boston 
early in 1653. His name appears in the list of mem- 
bers October 5, 1670. We know that he was a 
deacon of the Church, for in Mr. Bradstreet's diary 
is the following entry: "October 4, 1679; John 
Smith, one of the deacons of this church, a man of 
piety and use in the church and Town, went to 
heaven." As he came to New London in 1653, and 
as his name appears on the first list of members 
October 5, 1670, it seems probable that he joined the 
Church soon after his arrival, and that he was asso- 
ciated with Thomas Park, and officiated at that com- 
munion, July 8, 1655, of which Thomas Miner tells us. 

3. William Douglas seems to have been born 
in Scotland in 1610. He came to Boston in 1640, 
and to New London in December 1659. He was also 
one of those who composed the Church at the time 
of Mr. Bradstreet's ordination. We know that he 
was a deacon, because under date of July 26, 1682, 
Mr. Bradstreet wrote in his diary, " Mr. William 



THE DIACONATE. 269 

Douglas, one of the deacons of this church died in 
the 72 year of his age. He was an able christian, 
and this poor church will much want him." 

Of the date of his election we have no definite 
knowledge. In 1665 Mr. Douglas was sent to 
Boston to confer with " Mr. Wilson and Mr. Eliot " 
with reference to ' ' the procureing of a minister for 
the towne." He may have been chosen to this 
duty because he was an officer in the Church. 
Further, Thomas Miner, in his diary, preserves a 
certificate of Christian character voted by this Church 
to himself and wife, June 30, 1669. It was signed 
on behalf of the Church by James Avery and William 
Douglas. It may be that their acting for the Church 
pointed to some official relation. There was no 
pastor at the time, and Mr. Avery may have acted as 
moderator. Mr. Douglas may have signed as a 
deacon. For these reasons the date of his choice to 
the office of deacon is placed before October 9, 1665, 
when he was chosen to go to Boston on the business 
of securing a pastor for the Church. 

4. William Hough came to New London from 
Gloucester about 1653. Thomas Miner writes in his 
diary, under date of July 27, 1670, "I and my wife 
was at new london goodman Rice and William Hough 
was received into the church." We know that he 
was a deacon because, August 10, 1683, in the last 



270 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

entry which Mr. Bradstreet made in his diary, he 
says, "William Hough, a deacon of this Church, 
aged about 64, died. He was a solid man, and his 
death is a great loss to church and Town." He was 
elected deacon sometime after July 27, 1670. He 
may have succeeded Deacon Park. 

5. Joseph Coit was the youngest son of John 
Coit, who came to New London from Gloucester, 
with Mr. Blinman, in 1650. He is the ancestor of 
all the Coits in Connecticut, and perhaps in the United 
States. He joined the Church April 3, 1681. His 
name is entered as Deacon Coit on Mr. SaltonstalFs 
list of members, November 25, 1691, as already in 
that office. Then his election took place after 1681 
and before 1691. The exact date cannot be found. 
Deacon Coit's second son Joseph was the first minister 
of Plainfield. Deacon Coit died March 27, 1704. 

6. William Douglas, Jr. The date of his choice 
is not known. His name appears on the Church 
records as deacon first in 1696, but so as to imply 
that he held the office before that date. He joined 
the Church in 1670, soon after the ordination of Mr. 
Bradstreet. His oldest son, William, removed to 
Plainfield, and was one of the first deacons of that 
Church, as Deacon Coit's son was its first minister. 
He was deacon of this Church for many years. His 
grave is in The Towne's Antientest Buriall Place, 



THE DIACONATE. 271 

and upon his stone is this inscription, "Here lyeth 
y e body of Deacon William Douglas, who died March 
y e 9, 1724, in ye 80 year of his Age." 

7. Clement Miner, son of Thomas Miner, was 
born in Hingham, Mass., in 1638. He came to New 
London with his father when eight or nine years of 
age, and continued to reside here till his death 
November 8, 1700. His grave is in the old burying 
ground, and is marked by a slab on which is the 
simple inscription, C. M., 1700. 

He joined this Church April 30, 1671. We know 
that he was a deacon, because he usually appears on 
the town records either as Ensign Clement, or Deacon 
Clement Minor. The date of his election to this 
office is left wholly to conjecture. But as Deacon 
Hough died August 10, 1683, we may infer that he 
was chosen as his successor not long after. The 
pastor was the only Church clerk of those times, and 
as Mr. Bradstreet's death occurred soon after that 
of Deacon Hough, no record of Clement Miner's 
election to the diaconate was made. 

8. John Plumbe was chosen probably in 1700. 
January 6, 1695, Mr. Saltonstall, in recording the 
baptism of Mr. Plumbe 's daughter, Abigail, calls him 
John Plumbe, Jr. December 29, 1700 he makes this 
record of baptism, " Deacon Plumbe's child, Peter." 
His appointment to the office of deacon took place 



272 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

therefore between January 6, 1695, and December 
29, 1700. The exact date cannot be fixed. But the 
death of Deacon Mirier November 8, 1700 offered a 
fitting occasion, and we may suppose that he was 
chosen not long after. He joined this Church Octo- 
ber 15, 1693. He probably died sometime during 
1732, the year in which his successor, Thomas Fos- 
dyke, was chosen. 

9. Timothy Green joined this Church November 
13, 1720. Mr. Adams made the following entry on 
the Church records on that date : ' ' Timothy Green 
and his wife were recommended to our church from 
the North church in Boston." April 20, 1723, Mrs. 
Green was called "the deacon's wife" in a vote of 
the town assigning to her a seat in the Church, "on 
the woman's side." His election to the office of 
deacon, therefore, took place between these dates. 
Hempstead, in his diary, under date of May 4, 1757, 
writes, "deacon Timothy Green died this morning 
with diabetis * * * aged 78." His funeral 
was the next day. Miss Caulkins says that when 
Thomas Short, the first printer of the Colony, died in 
1712, Timothy Green, of Cambridge, was invited by 
the Governor and company to take the place. He 
came about the year 1714. He proved a valuable 
accession to society. He was a benevolent and reli- 
gious man, and an agreeable companion, having 
always at command a fund of native humor. 



THE DIACONATE. 273 

10. Thomas Fosdyke joined this Church October 
6, 1717. Mr. Adams made this record: "Thomas 
Fosdyke was recommended to our communion from 
the old church in Boston." Another entry made by 
Mr. Adams reads, "Ata church meeting December 
11, 1732, Thomas Fosdyke was chosen Deacon in the 
Room of Deacon John Plombe deceased." He was a 
son of Captain Samuel Fosdick, who came "from 
Charlestown in the Bay" about 1680, and married 
Mercy Picket, of New London, November 1, 1682. 
Their third son, Thomas, was born August 20, 1696. 
He was, therefore, thirty-six years of age when he 
was chosen deacon. June 29, 1720, he married 
Esther Updike. To them was born April 3, 1725, 
Thomas Updike Fosdick, who figured somewhat in 
the scenes of the Revolution. Deacon Fosdyke mar- 
ried, for his second wife, Grace, daughter of Clem- 
ent Miner, September 2, 1765. He died July 17, 
1774, say the records of the town, aged seventy- eight. 
He must have gone to Boston in early life, where he 
joined the Church. For he was received into this 
Church by letter "from the old church" in that city, 
when he returned in 1717. 

11. Pygan Adams was the second son of Rev. 
Eliphalet Adams and Lydia Pygan. He was born 
March 27, 1712, and was baptized March 30. He 
joined the Church March 30, 1740. Rev. Mather 



274 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Byles entered the following upon the records of the 
Church: " May 5, 1758, the church met at the 
Meeting House after a Sacrament Lecture and Pygan 
Adams Esqr. was chosen by a very large majority to 
be deacon in room of Timothy Green deceased." 
May 5, 1758, Mr. Hempstead wrote in his diary, 
" At Lecture and then wee, the church, chose Capt. 
Pygan Adams a deacon ; twenty-five votes for him 
and Daniel Coit 1 ; 28 voters." October 22 of that 
year he wrote, "Mr. Byles preached in a new pulpit 
and Capt. Adams officiated for the first time as dea- 
con." Deacon Adams died and was buried in our 
ancient cemetery. The epitaph on his stone reads 
" In memory of Pygan Adams, Esqr., who died July 
1776, aged 64." 

12. John Hempstead and his wife Hannah, 
joined this Church June 21, 1741. He was a son of 
Mr. Joshua Hempstead, the author of the diary. His 
election to the office of deacon is thus recorded by 
Eev. Ephraim Woodbridge : "November 17, 1770, 
being y e day of public thanksgiving, Mr. John 
Hempstead declared his acceptance of y e deacon's 
office to which he was elected by y e chh in September 
and was accordingly set apart to y* work and office by 
prayer." The vote of the September previous, elect- 
ing him to office was not recorded. 

13. Joseph Harris was a son of Joseph Harris. 



THE DIACONATE. 275 

He was born December 1711, and baptized Decem- 
ber 30. He joined this Church November 7, 1734, 
and was chosen deacon June 25, 1782. 

14. William Douglas, the third deacon of the 
Church who bore that name, was also elected June 
25, 1782. He was a son of Capt. Richard Douglas, 
and great grandson of the first Deacon William. He 
was born January 1, 1708, and was baptized Febru- 
ary 1, by the Rev. John Woodward of the First 
Church in Norwich, this Church being at that time 
without a pastor. He joined this Church January 21, 
1728. "He was constable in 1765, and a man of 
considerable importance in his day." [Douglas Gene- 
alogy, p. 84.] He died November 12, 1787, aged 
nearly eighty years. It is in place to say here that 
until the present, which breaks the honorable line of 
succession, there has been a Deacon William Douglas 
in every generation of the family from the first. 

An entry on the Church records during the long 
interval between Mr. Woodbridge and Mr. Channing 
reads as follows: "At a meeting of the First 
Church of Christ in New London on June 25, 1782, 
on the occasion of choosing deacons in said Church, 
the Rev. Benj. Throop of Norwich being occasionally 
present was by the desire and unanimous vote of the 
Church appointed their moderator ; when Joseph 
Harris Esq r - and Mr. William Douglas were chosen 



276 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Deacons by the major vote of said church, and 
accepted their office.' 7 At the time of their election 
these men were well advanced in life, Deacon Harris 
being' over seventy-one and Deacon Douglas over sev- 
enty-four. 

15. Timothy Green was chosen April 17, 1788. 
He was a son of the former deacon of the same 
name. He first settled as a printer in Boston. But 
on the death of his brother, Samuel, he removed to 
New London, in 1752, and took charge of the busi- 
ness. He joined the Church January, 1788. He 
was one of those who came within this vote of the 
Church. " The following persons, who had been for 
many years in covenant [Half-way, probably,] with 
this church, but had not joined in the communion, 
having applied to the Pastor for admission to this 
privilege, were considered by the church as regular 
in their standing, and agreeably to their request were 
admitted to unite with us in full communion." 

16. Robert Manwaring was elected to the same 
office, at the same time. He united with this Church 
August 12, 1787. The following entry on the records 
was made by Mr. Channing : " At a meeting of the 
Pastor and Brethren, April 17, 1788, the church 
being convened for the purpose of making choice of 
two Brethren to be the Deacons of this church, a 
prayer for the direction and blessing of the Great 



THE DIACONATE. 277 

Head of the Church being first offered ; the church 
proceeded to their choice. The votes being taken, it 
appeared that Brother Timothy Green, and Brother 
Robert Manwaring were chosen to be the Deacons of 
this church. Those brethren being present were de- 
sired to take this vote of the church into their serious 
consideration, and give their answer after due delib- 
eration.' 7 On Thursday, the first day of May, "at 
the Lecture preparatory to the Lord's Supper, Brother 
Timothy Green and Brother Robert Manwaring were 
solemnly set apart by Prayer to the office of Deacons 
of this church, having previously declared their ac- 
ceptance of the choice of the church." 

Deacon Manwaring removed to Norwich. But he 
seems to have relinquished his office before 1799. 
There is no record of his resignation, but in a com- 
plaint brought against him by the pastor, Rev. Henry 
Channing, dated August 27, 1799, he is called, "one 
of the Brethren and late a Deacon in this church.' ' 
The charge made against him was that he was the 
author of a writing, which had been affixed to a pub- 
lic sign post in the city, and which contained the fol- 
lowing words, ' ' Mr. Henry Channing, we agreed with 
you to preach Jesus Christ, not John Adams, in that 
most holy place, I mean the pulpit." Mr. Manwar- 
ing was acquitted of the charge by vote of the church, 
after a hearing of the case. 



278 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

17. John Arnold united with this Church by let- 
ter from the Church in Lebanon, October 6, 1793. He 
was chosen to the office of deacon November 13, 
1794. The record of the action of the Church is as 
follows : "The church, considering the infirmities of 
the present Deacons, and that their duties are in- 
creased by the number added to the church, pro- 
ceeded to the choice of two brethren to sustain the 
office of Deacons in this church in addition to those 
now in office;" that is, Deacons Green and Man war- 
ing. As a result of the vote John Arnold was chosen 
as one of the two. " Thursday, May 26, 1795," the 
records tell us, "Brother John Arnold, having de- 
clared his acceptance of the office of a deacon to 
which he was chosen by this church, was, at the pre- 
paratory lecture this day, solemnly devoted to God in 
that office by prayer." He continued in the office 
till he removed from the city in 1803. 

18. Oliver Chapman was the second deacon 
elected at the same time with John Arnold. But the 
records say that ' ' Brother Oliver Chapman declined 
accepting the office." However, "at a meeting of 
the church, April 17, 1796, after a prayer for the 
divine direction and blessing, the church proceeded 
to the choice of a deacon. The votes being taken, 
it appeared that bro. Oliver Chapman was chosen." 
This time he accepted, and after the preparatory lee- 



THE DIACONATE. 279 

ture, May 19, 1796, he "was by Prayer solemnly 
separated and devoted to God in that office." He 
joined the Church June 20, 1790. 

19. Jedediah Huntington joined this Church 
by letter from the first Church in Norwich, Novem- 
ber 9, 1794. The records preserve the following 
account of his election and induction into office : "At 
a meeting of the First Church in New London, after 
public worship on Sunday, January 20, 1799, the 
church being convened for the purpose of chosing 
one to sustain the office of a Deacon, after a prayer 
for the divine direction and blessing, the church pro- 
ceeded to the choice. The votes being taken, it ap- 
peared that Bro. Jedediah Huntington was chosen. 
He being present, was desired to take the voice of 
the church into serious consideration, and after due 
deliberation give his answer." The final result is 
thus recorded: "Thursday, February 14, 1799, at 
the public Lecture this day, brother Jedediah Hunt- 
ington was solemnly set apart by prayer to the office 
of Deacon to which he had been elected by the 
church." 

Deacon Huntington's name appears frequently 
after this in various official relations. Thus he 
was delegate to sit, with the pastor, on the council 
which settled William Ellery Channing as pastor of 
the Federal Street Church, in Boston, June 1, 1803; 



280 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

to sit on the council that installed Rev. Abishai 
Alden as pastor of the Church in Montville, August 
17 of the same year; to sit on the council which set- 
tled his son, Rev. Daniel Huntington, as pastor of 
the Church in Bridgewater in 1812 ; and many other 
like occasions. He had a leading voice in the action 
of the Church when it called Mr. McEwen. He, 
with Deacon Guy Richards, was a committee to make 
known to Mr. McEwen the action of the Church. 
It is probable that he was chosen to take the place of 
Deacon Man waring. 

He was General Huntington of Revolutionary 
fame, and served through the war. After 1777 he 
held the rank of brigadier general. He was during 
part of the time an aid of General Washington, 
who always regarded him as a tried personal friend, 
and was a member of his military household. It was 
at General Washington's request that he was pro- 
moted to the rank which he held. He saw service in 
many of the important battles. He was with his 
companions in arms during the memorable winter at 
Valley Forge. He was a member of the court mar- 
tial which tried Charles Lee for his insubordination 
at the battle of Monmouth, and he sat upon the court 
of inquiry to which was referred the case of Major 
Andre. On retiring from the war he resumed busi- 
ness in his native town, where he held several impor- 



THE DIACONATE. 281 

tant offices. In 1789 President Washington appoint- 
ed him first collector of the port of New London, 
which position he held through four different admin- 
istrations. His appointment to this office occasioned 
his removal to New London. In 1796 he bnilt the 
house now owned by Mr. Elisha Palmer, modelling 
it somewhat after Mount Vernon, the home of the 
commander under whom he had served. He gradu- 
ated from Harvard in 1763. The Master's degree 
was conferred on him by Yale in 1770. He made a 
public profession of religion at the age of twenty- 
three. He was an officer and pillar in this Church 
for twenty-six years. It is said that ' 'his munificence, 
for its profusion, its uniformity, its long continuance, 
and for the discretion by which it was directed, was 
without an example or a parallel in his native State." 
He was the first president of Union Bank. He was 
the son of General Jabez Huntington, was born in 
Norwich, August 4, 1743, and died in New London, 
September 25, 1818, at the age of seventy-five. 

20. Guy Richards was the first deacon chosen 
by this Church in this century. The records say, 
"at a meeting of the First Church in New London, 
on Sunday, September 11, 1803, after prayer for the 
divine presence, direction and blessing, the Church 
proceeded to the election of one to sustain the office 
of one of the deacons vacated by the removal of 



282 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

brother John Arnold from the city. The votes being 
taken, it appeared that brother Guy Richards was 
elected. He, being present, was desired to take the 
Yoice of the Church into serious consideration, and, 
after due time for deliberation, to give his answer." 
A further record reads, u Sunday, October 8th, 
1803 : This day after sermon in the forenoon, 
Brother Guy Richards was solemnly separated by 
prayer to the office of a Deacon to which he had been 
elected by the church." The date October 8th 
should be 9th, for the 8th that year fell on Saturday. 
Guy Richards joined this Church July 21, 1799. 

At the first city meeting, March 8, 1784, Mr. Rich- 
ards was chosen treasurer, and held office till he re- 
signed in 1820, a period of thirty- six years. He 
was born in 1747, and died in 1825, aged seventy- 
eight. He was a son of Guy Richards, who was born 
in 1722, joined this Church in 1773, and died in 1782. 
It was the mother of Deacon Richards, Madame 
Elizabeth Richards, who gave one of the communion 
cups, now in use, in 1793, and who left a legacy of 
$40 to the Church, which was afterwards used, by its 
vote passed Nov. 13, 1794, to change " Tankards be- 
longing to the church into cups, as more convenient 
for the service of the table." 

21. Thaddeus Brooks was elected deacon Jan- 



THE DIACONATE. 283 

uary 4, 1817. He united with, this Church, together 
with his wife, Abigail, November 25, 1787. On that 
same date, both he and his wife were baptized, to- 
gether with four children, Hubbil, Abigail, Thad- 
deus and Elizabeth. Miss Caulkins says that he 
served for sixteen successive years in the common 
council of the city, together with Chester Kimball 
and John Way. 

22. Elias Perkins was also chosen deacon Jan- 
uary 4, 1817. He united with this Church Novem- 
ber 5, 1809. He graduated from Yale College in 
1786, and was one of its Socii from 1818 to 1823. 
He was mayor of New London three years j 1829 to 
1832. He was the first president of the New Lon- 
don Bank, which was incorporated in May, 1807. He 
was Member of Congress from 1801 to 1803. He 
filled many prominent positions in the town. He was 
born in Lisbon, April 5, 1767, but early in life be- 
came a resident of New London. In 1790 he was 
married to Lucretia Shaw Woodbridge, only daugh- 
ter of Brother Ephraim Woodbridge, by the Rev. 
Henry Channing. He died September 27, 1845. 
Old subscription lists of money given to build the 
first house which stood on the present site, and to 
build the old Conference House, show that Deacon 
Perkins was a large and generous supporter of the 
Church. 



284 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

23 . Stephen Peck was also chosen deacon Janu- 
ary 4, 1817. He was one of the first young men to 
join the Church under the fresh and evangelical im- 
pulses of Mr. McEwen's ministry; which he did April 
22, 1810. Mrs. B. P. McEwen told the writer before 
her death, that his public profession of religion, at a 
time when young men held aloof from the Church, 
created a profound sensation. He built and occupied 
the house now owned by Dr. George Morgan. He 
removed from town before his death. 

24. Isaac Chapel was the fourth deacon chosen 
January 4, 1817. He joined this Church November 
18, 1787. Dr. McEwen made the following record 
of the election of the last four deacons: "At a 
meeting of the church January 4, 1817, Thaddeus 
Brooks, Elias Perkins, Stephen Peck and Isaac 
Chapel were elected to the office of deacon." 

25. William P. Cleaveland was chosen to be a 
deacon of this Church May 24, 1830. The follow- 
ing minute of the action of the Church is entered 
upon its records : "At a meeting of the church 
May 20, 1830, voted that it is expedient to add to the 
number of those who now hold the office of deacon 
in this church. Adjourned to meet again on the 
24 inst. 77 " Met according to adjournment, May 24, 
1830. Yoted that it is expedient to add one to the 
present deacons of this church. Proceeded to a 



THE DIACONATE. 285 

choice, and elected William P. Cleaveland." Deacon 
Cleaveland joined this Church in 1824, and died Jan- 
uary 3, 1844, aged seventy-four. He was a son of 
Colonel Aaron Cleaveland of Revolutionary fame, and 
was born at Canterbury, December 18, 1770. He 
graduated from Yale College in 1793. He settled in 
New London as a lawyer previous to 1800. He was 
an original member of the corporation of the New 
London Savings Bank. 

26. Ebenezer Learned was chosen a deacon of 
this Church January 20, 1840. The following entry 
upon the records of the Church relate to his choice : 
"At a meeting of the church, January 20, 1840, voted 
that two deacons be chosen in this church additional 
to the two now in that office. A ballot was taken ; 
and Mr. Ebenezer Learned was chosen third deacon 
of the Church. Mr. Learned declined the office to 
which he was chosen ; and at his request the Church, 
by vote, excused him from holding the office." The 
matter was adjourned to another meeting. The 
records continue "At a meeting of the church Feb- 
ruary 6, 1840, for the purpose of filling up the va- 
cancy, made by the declination of Mr. Ebenezer 
Learned, a ballot was taken ; and Mr. Learned was 
reelected the third deacon of this church." The 
records state that he accepted upon this second elec- 
tion, and he was duly inducted into office. 



286 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIEST CHURCH. 

Deacon Learned joined this Church in 1820. He 
was born in Killingly, March 27, 1780, but came to 
New London in early infancy. He graduated from 
Yale College in 1798. He was an original corporator 
of the New Loudon Savings Bank. He died Septem- 
ber 17, 1858, aged seventy-eight. 

27. Asa Otis was also elected January 20, 1840. 
After recording the election of Deacon Learned, the 
records say, " Another ballot was taken, and Mr. 
Asa Otis was chosen the fourth deacon of this 
Church.'' Mr. Otis accepted the office, and was 
installed in it. 

Deacon Otis joined this Church in 1834. His 
name has been perpetuated by his princely gift of 
almost $1,000,000 to the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions. He lived at one 
time in Richmond, Va., where he accumulated his 
wealth. He came to New London before 1834, and 
died here March 10, 1879. 

28. William Holden Coggshall was chosen to 
the office of deacon about 1854. Deacon Coggshall 
was born in Pawtucket, R. I., July 4, 1793. He 
came, in early life, to live in North Stonington. He 
seems to have joined the Church in that place, for 
when he removed to New London in the spring of 
1826, he joined this Church by letter. His daughter 
writes, u all the communion service was kept at our 



THE DIACONATE. 287 

house, and as it was a large and valuable one, I 
remember that it was a great deal of care and respon- 
sibility, which impressed it upon my mind." He 
removed from Xew London to Brooklyn, X. Y., in 
the spring of 1860. He died in Belvidere, 111., 
February 8, 1880. 

29. Andrew M. Frink was probably elected 
deacon at the same time Avith Mr. Coggshall. He 
joined this Church in 1815. He was mayor of the 
city from 1843 to 1845, but he resigned before the 
expiration of his term of office. Deacon Frink died 
June 27, 1867, aged seventy-four. 

30. John "W. Tibbits was also elected, probably, 
in 1854. He joined this Church by letter in 1841. 
He removed from town before his death, which took 
place September 12, 1879. 

31. Cortland Starr seems to have been elected 
to office at the same time with the three preceding. 
He joined this Church in 1831. He died April 11, 
1865, aged fifty-seven. 

There is no record of the choice of the last four 
deacons. But we know that they were chosen to the 
office prior to 1856. For at a meeting of the Church 
held Monday evening, January 28, 1856, for the pur- 
pose of renewing the call which had been extended 
to Rev. Thomas P. Field, but which he had declined, 
it was " voted that deacous William H. Coggshall, 



288 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Andrew M. Frink, John W. Tibbits and Courtland 
Starr be, and they are hereby appointed a committee 
to present to the Rev. Thomas P. Field a copy of the 
above vote," that is, the vote renewing the call. 

32. William H. Starr was elected to the office 
o£ deacon in 1865. October 23, 1867, he resigned 
his office, bnt the Church promptly refused to accept 
his resignation. He continued to serve till the close 
of 1882. He was bom in Groton, May 27, 1808. In 
early life he went to Orange, N. J. In 1857 he re- 
moved to New London, and joined this Church by 
letter. He died 'April 27, 1884, aged seventy-six. 

33. William C. Crump was chosen the same year 
with Deacon W. H. Starr. He also resigned at the 
close of 1882, He died March 9, 1883, aged sixty- 
six, and the loss to the Church was irreparable. He 
united with it in 1855. He was a native of New 
York city, where he was born in 1817. Mr. Bacon 
says of him in a notice of his death in his annual 
survey of the year 1883, " although of a profoundly 
religious spirit and life, it was not until 1855 that Mr. 
Crump so far overcame distrust of himself as to make 
public covenant as a disciple of Christ ; so he was 
only twenty-eight years in communion here. But 
from 1865 to 1883, when his renewed resignation was 
reluctantly accepted, he adorned the office of a deacon, 
serving the Church and its Head with such modest 



THE DIACONATE. 289 

fidelity and excellent wisdom and unostentatious self- 
denial as the earth rarely sees. This death removed 
a pillar o£ the church below, 'to make him a pillar 
in the Temple of our God, and he shall go no more 
out.'" 

34. Adam F. Prentis was chosen to be a deacon 
October 23, 1867. He joined this Church in 1843. 
He was a lineal descendant of John Prentis, the 
blacksmith, who came here in 1652 on the invitation 
of John Winthrop, Jr., and the townsmen. He was 
engaged in the whaling business with Deacon Frink, 
under the firm name of Frink and Prentis. He died 
July 25, 1878, aged sixty-nine. Mr. Bacon, in speak- 
ing of his death in his annual letter for the year 1878, 
says, " before now I have had occasion to speak, so 
far as I thought his own most modest taste would 
permit me, of the loss the church sustained in the 
death of Deacon Prentis, and how he 'used the office 
of a deacon well.' He was so quiet, yet so strong a 
man that few knew the extent of his usefulness, as it 
fell to the lot of his minister to know it. As the 
months go by, I miss and mourn my lost assistant 
even more than I expected I should." 

35. Joshua C. Learned was also chosen October 
23, 1867, and served in that office fifteen years. He 
joined this Church in 1835. He was born in New 
London, August 19, 1819. He died, after a brief 



290 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

illness, April 27, 1892, and this Church lost in him 
another pillar, and faithful supporter, and his pastor 
a steadfast and valued friend. 

36. Jesse H. Wilcox was elected to the office 
which he now holds November 8, 1878, Mr. Bacon 
says "with one consent," to succeed Deacon Pren- 
tis. He joined this Church by letter from the Church 
in East Lyme in 1869. He was born in Stonington, 
October 17, 1828. 

37. Hon. George E. Starr was chosen October 
18, 1883, and still serves in the office of deacon. 
He was born in Middletown, Conn., August 24, 
1828, and came to New London in 1844. He joined 
this Church upon confession of faith, March 3, 1878. 
He was mayor of the city from 188 2to 1885. 

38. Hon. William Belcher was also chosen 
October 18, 1883, to the office in which he now 
serves. He joined this Church by letter from the 
Church in Amherst College in 1866, from which 
institution he graduated that year. He is a native of 
New London, where he was born February 25. 1845. 
He was reared in the Church of which he is now a 
valued officer. 

39. James E. Goddard was also elected October 
18, 1883. He was born in New London, June 27. 
1817. His early life was spent in this Church. In 
his young manhood he removed to New York to 



THE DIACONATE. 291 

engage in business. He returned to New London, 
and, with his family, joined this Church in 1877 by 
letter from the first Presbyterian Church in Yonkers, 
N. Y. He died March 29, 1893, aged seventy-six. 

The following extracts are taken from an obituary 
notice of him: "He was a man of great originality. 
* * * Shakespeare, Burns and Scott were his 
familiars. * * * He was deeply read in the- 
ology, especially among the Puritan divines, whose 
views he embraced with heartiness, and, it may be 
added, with immovable conviction. He was equally 
well read in history. * * * He was a profound 
reader of the Scriptures, having his regular hours of 
study and reflection therein. * * * But it was 
as a man of prayer that he will be best remembered 
by those who knew him. * * * His Saturdays 
were spent partly in petitions for the ministry and 
for their preparation for the Sunday morning, remem- 
bering unfailingly his own and neighboring pastors, 
as well as others known and related to him. * * * 
On hearing of his release a certain friend said, simply 
and appropriately, 'the prayers of David, the son 
of Jesse, are ended.' " 

40. Henry Lufler was elected to succeed Dea- 
con Goddard June 30, 1893, and was inducted into 
office by prayer at the communion July 2 of that 
year. He still serves in the office. He joined this 



292 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Church by letter from the Church in Stafford, Sep- 
tember 1, 1889. He was born in Hingham, Mass., 
June 1, 1847. 

These forty men, worthy successors of Deacon 
Stephen and his companions, have served tables in 
this visible body of Christ since 1651. Like the orig- 
inal seven, they have none of them been of any cler- 
ical order, but they were solemnly set apart to the 
office of deacon as instituted by the New Testament 
Church. 

It seems certain that there were deacons before 
the Church left Gloucester, who came with it. But 
we have no means of knowing positively who they 
were. These forty are the only ones so far as we 
have any definite knowledge, who have served the 
Church in this office since 1651. In the early days 
deacons sometimes officiated, in the absence of the 
pastor, holding what were called "deacons' meet- 
ings." We know that Captain George Denison and 
Mr. John Tinker rendered such service on several 
occasions. If these occasions were instances in 
which "deacons' meetings" were held, then their 
names must be coupled with that of Deacon Park in 
the early years of the Church in New London. 



XIII. 

MEN WHO HAVE ENTERED THE MINISTRY FROM 
THIS CHURCH. 



Those whose names appear in the following pages 
have been members o£ this Church, or have been 
directly or indirectly influenced by it, or have gone 
forth from its homes into their life work. They are 
among the fruits which it has borne in its long and 
eventful career. As these men have gone into the 
pulpits of other denominations, as well as of the Con- 
gregational order, this Church may reap the reward 
promised, "blessed are ye that sow beside all 
waters." 

1. Rev. Simon Bradstreet was the eldest son 
of the third minister of this Church. He was born 
in New London March 7, 1671. In the records of 
baptisms is this entry made by his father : ' ' March 
12, 1671, my own child, Simon." He graduated 
from Harvard College in 1693, and was the first native 
of this town, and the first son of this Church to secure 
a collegiate education. He preached in Medford in 



294 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

1696, but left early in the next year, and was or- 
dained at Charlestown, Mass., October 26, 1698, as 
pastor of the Church of which his distinguished 
grandmother, Ann Bradstreet, had been a member. 
He continued in the office till he died, December 31, 
1741, after a ministry of forty-three years, aged 
seventy-one years and ten months. It is said that he 
was considered one of the first literary characters and 
best preachers in America. For some years prior to 
his death he was afraid to preach from his pulpit, 
and delivered his sermons from the deacons' seat, 
and without notes. Another says, "he was more 
celebrated for his learning than for his eloquence, and 
was a man of great eccentricity. He delivered his 
sermons extemporaneously * * * and avoiding 
doctrinal preaching of the Calvinistic school adopted 
the practical tone of the English divines, of whom 
Tillotson was his favorite." He was a man of great 
classical attainments, but of infirm constitution, and 
desponding temperament, which probably accounts 
for his reputation for " great eccentricity." Another 
says, " he was a very learned man, of a strong mind, 
tenacious memory, and lively imagination. Lt. Gov. 
Tailer introduced him to Gov. Burnet, who was him- 
self a fine scholar, by saying, 'here is a man who 
can whistle Greek.' " 

His son, Simon, the fifth to bear the name, was 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 295 

ordained pastor of the Church in Marblehead, Mass., 
January 4, 1738, and continued till his death, Octo- 
ber 5, 1771. These three Simon Bradstreets com- 
pleted ninety- three years of ministerial life. Rev. 
Simon Bradstreet was minister in New London sev- 
enteen years j his son Simon was minister^in Charles- 
town, Mass., forty-three years ; his grandson, Simon, 
was minister in Marblehead, Mass., thirty-three 
years. 

2. Joseph Coit was the second son of Deacon 
Joseph Coit. The record of his baptism, made by 
Mr. Bradstreet, is, " April 6, 1673, Joseph Coit's 
child Joseph." His birth took place a few days 
before. He joined this Church July 29, 1698. Miss 
Caulkins says that he ' ' was the first native of New 
London that received a collegiate education." This 
is clearly a mistake. For Simon Bradstreet was a 
native of New London, and graduated from Harvard 
College four years before Joseph Coit. Then he was 
the second instead of the first son of this town and 
Church to secure a collegiate education. Miss Caulkins 
says that ' ' his name is on the first list of graduates of 
the seminary founded at Saybrook, which was the 
germ that expanded into Yale College." He grad- 
uated from Harvard College in 1697. He received 
an honorary degree from Yale in 1702 . ' ' He declined 
a call to Norwich before 1699, then went to Plain- 



296 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

field," where he was ordained the first pastor of the 
Church, which was organized January 3, 1705. He 
ranked high among the ministers of his time. He re- 
mained till he was dismissed in March, 1748. He died 
July, 1750. His name was given, in Contribu- 
tions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut 
[p. 518] as having had a ministerial life of fifty-two 
years. According to this his entrance upon the sacred 
office was in 1698 — the year in which he joined this 
Church, and the year after he graduated from Har- 
vard College. 

3. William Adams was the oldest son of Rev. 
Eliphalet Adams. He was born October 7, 1710. 
His father made the following record of his baptism : 
" November 8, 1710, my own child, William." He 
was named for his grandfather, Rev. William Adams 
of Dedham, Mass. He joined this Church February 
16, 1735. He graduated from Yale College in 1730, 
where he was afterwards tutor for two years, 1732 to 
1734. He was then licensed to preach, but never 
was ordained as pastor of a Church. He ministered 
in various parishes for more than sixty years. He 
preached first in the North Parish, of New London. 
It is now Montville. He preached next in North 
Groton, now Ledyard. He declined a unanimous 
call to the latter place. After his father's death he 
occupied the pulpit in New London for nearly three 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 297 

years as a supply. An attempt to call him to succeed 
his father is thus recorded by Mr. Hempstead in his 
diary. "February 23 [1756]. A society meeting. 
Mr. William Adams negatived, forty-five against 
forty." After the death of Mr. "Woodbridge in 1776, 
"Rev. William Adams preached about half the time 
during the first three years." There is a vote of 
the society November 21, 1780 to employ him, but 
he evidently supplied before that date . ' ' The larger 
part of his ministerial labors were given to Shelter 
Island, where he preached at intervals for over thirty 
years." He is believed to be the first minister to 
dwell on the Island. He was there at the time of 
"Whitfield's visit in 1764. [Sprague's Annals] . His 
last years were spent in New London. He often 
walked into the country on visits to the farmers, and 
made it a point to give some religious instruction. 
He was short and stout, and wore a white wig, and a 
cocked hat. He usually walked about the streets in 
a black study gown. He was a good preacher, but 
in no wise eminent. He was never married. It is 
said that he often "congratulated himself on never 
having been incumbered with wife or Parish." He 
died in New London, September 25, 1798, aged 
eighty-three, and lies by the side of his brother, Dea- 
con Pygan Adams, in the ancient cemetery. 

4. John Avery. This name appears in Contri- 



298 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

butions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, 
on the list of ministers raised up by this Church. It 
is probable that he was the John Avery who graduated 
from Yale in 1777, was licensed by the New Haven 
East Association in 1778, was settled in Stamford, 
January, 1779, and died September, 1791. Rev. 
John Avery of Norwich writes that he was probably 
"son of Jonathan, who was son of James 2nd. He 
was born October 9, 1752, " and was thirty-nine years 
of age at his death. 

5. Joshua Huntington was the second son of 
of Gen. Jedediah Huntington. He was born in Nor- 
wich, January 31, 1786, but came to New London 
with his father in early childhood. He was gradu- 
ated from Yale College in the class of 1804, of which 
John C. Calhoun, Abel McEwen, Ezra Stiles Ely, 
Bennet Tyler, were members. Mr. McEwen was his 
college chum and spoke of him as a young man of 
" very acceptable address, both private and public," 
and as having "discretion," and "good common 
sense." He was converted in a revival which visited 
the college in his sophomore year, and decided to 
enter the ministry. He had an impediment in his 
speech which might have proved fatal to his purpose. 
But so firm was his conviction of duty, and so earnest 
was his desire, that with persistent determination he 
set about overcoming it, and succeeded. He studied 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 299 

theology with Dr. Dwight, and then sought training 
in pastoral duties in the family of Rev. Asahel 
Hooker of Goshen, Conn. He was licensed by the 
New London Association in 1806, and began to 
preach when but twenty, and that, too, with great 
acceptance. He received a call from the Church in 
Middletown, Conn., and from the Old South Church 
in Boston to be the colleague with Dr. Eckley, on the 
same day. About the same time he received a call 
from another Church in a pleasant and populous 
town. Certainly these calls were proof that he was a 
young man of rare promise, which his future fulfilled. 
This was very flattering to one so young in years, yet 
another says, " We never heard that it produced in 
him any indication of vanity." After serious delib- 
eration, and following judicious advice, he accepted 
the call to the Old South Church in Boston, where he 
was ordained May 18, 1808. The following action 
of this Church refers to this event: "Lord's day, 
May 1st, 1808, after public worship a letter missive 
from the Church in Marlborough street, Boston, [the 
Old South] was communicated to this Church. It 
requested the assistance of the pastor and such other 
delegates as the Church might appoint in the ecclesi- 
astical council to be convened at Boston, on the 18th 
of May, 1808, for the purpose of ordaining Mr. 
Joshua Huntington colleague Pastor with the Rev. 



300 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Joseph Eckley over the Church in Marlborough street. 
Deacons Jedediah Huntington and Guy Richards were 
appointed delegates from this Church for the purpose 
above mentioned." Dr. Eckley died about 1811, 
and Mr. Huntington became sole pastor of that his- 
toric Church. He died in Groton, Mass., while re- 
turning home from a journey for his health, on Sat- 
urday, September 11, 1819. In so great esteem was 
he held that the whole religious community of Boston 
was deeply moved at his death. He was instru- 
mental in the formation of the American Education 
Society. 

6. Daniel Huntington, third son of Deacon 
Jedediah Huntington, was born at Norwich, October 
17, 1788, but removed to New London with his 
father while yet a child. He graduated from Yale 
College in the class of 1807, and became a member 
of this Church February 28, 1809. He was licensed 
to preach by the New London Association in 1811. 
He was a resident licentiate at Andover Theological 
Seminary in 1812 — the first student of that kind on 
the list. He was ordained pastor of the Church in 
North Bridgewater, now the city of Brockton, Mass., 
October 28, 1812, where he remained till his health 
compelled him to relinquish his charge in 1832, when 
he returned to New London. His ministry "was 
attended from time to time with the demonstration of 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 301 

the spirit and with power, so that great numbers 
were added to the Lord." After a temporary respite 
from pastoral labors he so far regained his health 
that he was able ' ' to gratify his fine literary taste in 
the instruction of successive classes of young ladies in 
the higher branches of an educational course, while 
residing in New London. ' ; But his heart yearned for 
the pastorate. After seven years he received a call 
from a portion of his original Church, which he ac- 
cepted. This was about 1839. The new Church, a 
colony from the old, had been organized in 1837, in 
that portion of Brockton known as Campello. In this 
southern section of his former field he spent thirteen 
years, "winning souls to Christ." In 1852 he re- 
turned to New London, where he lived till he died. 
His separation from his people at Campello occasioned 
many tears and much anguish of spirit, and showed 
how strongly he had intrenched himself in the hearts 
of his people. After his return to New London he 
continued to preach the gospel. His last sermon was 
delivered in the chapel at Mohegan, just four weeks 
before his death. He was an original member of the 
Second Church. But on his return to New London 
from Campello he brought his letter to the First 
Church, in 1854. 

In a historical sketch of the Second Church is the 
following notice of him : " The Rev. Daniel Hunting- 



302 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ton, though never an acting pastor like Mr. Hurlbut, 
was for a number o£ months acting preacher in the 
third Sunday service. He led the service of song. 
He baptized five out of forty-eight children of the 
Church. His long ministries at Bridge water, Mass., 
before and after this date are written on earth. May 
we not believe that his brief and unofficial work 
done here where he died is written in heaven ? Al- 
most his last words before his death, May 21, 1858, 
were, 'let me go, for the morning breaketh.' " It 
is to be remembered that the organization of the 
Second Church took place during the period of his 
first respite from pastoral labors, in 1835. A sketch 
of him in the Congregational Year Book for 1859 
says that ' l but for his unfeigned humility and 
the extreme modesty that imposed a constant re- 
straint on the forth-putting of his native genius 
* * he had shone with far superior 

brilliancy in the starry firmament of earth's ambition, 
though less splendidly in that nobler firmament where 
stars never set, and the sun no more goes down." 
He had a fine literary taste. But best of all, he had 
a passion for souls, and the constant additions to the 
Church during his ministry prove that he was a 
preacher of rare spiritual power. 

7. Nathaniel Hewit, D. D., was born in New 
London, August 28, 1788. He graduated from Yale 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 303 

College in the class of 1808. He studied a year at 
Andover with, the class of 1816. He was licensed 
to preach by the New London Association in 1811. 
He was ordained July 5, 1815, as pastor of the Pres- 
byterian Church at Plattsburg, N. Y., where he 
remained till 1817. January, 1818, he became pas- 
tor of the ancient Congregational Church in Fair- 
field. December, 1827, he was dismissed to become 
agent of the American Temperance Society, with 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut as his 
field. He remained in this work till December, 
1830, when he became pastor of the Second Congre- 
gational Church in Bridgeport. This same year 
Amherst College conferred on him the honorary 
degree of D. D. After a pastorate of nearly twenty- 
three years he was, at his own request, dismissed 
September, 1853. In October of that year, and ap- 
parently to follow Dr. Hewit, seventy-eight members 
of the Second Church ' ' were dismissed by their own 
request to form a Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. 
Hewit became pastor." He remained in this office 
till he died in Bridgeport, February 10, 1867, aged 
nearly seventy- nine years. 

He had distinguished himself before 1826 "by 
maintaining, not only at home but in his exchanges 
with other pastors, the duty of entire abstinence from 
the use of spirituous liquors, except as a medicine, 



304 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

and as prescribed by a temperate physician." He 
addressed the General Association of this State upon 
this subject, at their meeting in Stratford in 1827, 
with so great eloquence and power that a resolution 
was called forth from that conservative body, endors- 
ing the principles of the society which he represent- 
ed, and pledging the members to use their influence 
' ' as pastors to prevent entirely the use and all abuses 
of strong drink." He was preacher before the Gen- 
eral Association in 1840, and its moderator in 1853. 
Two of his sons became priests of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church. 

8. Nathan Douglass was born in New London 
January 31, 1787. He was a son of Capt. Ebenezer 
Douglas, a member of this Church, of u decided 
Christian character," who died Sunday night, Sep- 
tember 3, 1798. Nathan was a lineal descendant, of 
the fifth generation from the first Deacon William 
Douglas. He early became a professed disciple of 
Christ, and joined this Church April 5, 1807, when 
twenty years of age. He said of himself at that 
period, in the words of the psalmist, " I thought on 
my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." 
With a deep conviction of sin, he turned from all the 
human devices, which brought him no relief, to find 
peace in the blood and righteousness of Christ. Mr. 
McEwen, who was at that time the pastor of the 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 305 

Church, evidently saw traits in the young man which 
promised usefulness in the ministry, and so started 
him on a course of education for that work. He 
graduated from Middlebury College, "Vermont, in the 
class of 1813. He studied theology at Andover two 
years, in the class of 1816, and then one year with the 
famous Rev. Edward Payson, D. D. He went to Al- 
fred, Maine, in July, 1816, where he was ordained 
pastor of the Church in that town, November 6 of that 
year. His ministry continued till July 1827, and was 
signally blessed by seasons of religious interest. He 
was greatly respected and beloved by his people, as ap- 
pears from resolutions passed by the Church, which 
expressed ' ' the most cordial friendships and love for 
their late pastor and teacher." January 13, 1829, 
Mr. Douglas removed to East Saint Albans, Maine. 
A Church was organized there June 24, 1830, which 
he served as acting pastor till June 12, 1833, when 
he was installed. Here, too, his ministry was blessed 
with seasons of spiritual refreshing. He continued 
at East Saint Albans till September 14, 1846, when 
he was duly dismissed by council. This was his last 
pastorate. On leaving it he served for twenty years 
"as a domestic missionary' ' in Maine, till he died at 
Bangor, December 16, 1866, at the age of eighty 
years, and a month over fifty years after his ordina- 
tion. The Bangor Whig and Courier said of him, " he 



306 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

took a deep interest in all that pertained to the welfare 
of the Church and of the State, and was the founder 
of the State and County Conferences in Maine. 
Though he lived to the advanced age of nearly 
eighty years, he retained to a remarkable degree his 
mental powers, and was an earnest advocate of vital 
religious and civil liberty." Prof. George Shepard, 
of Bangor Theological Seminary, said of him, "he 
instructed by his preaching. He was a good pastor, 
and so edified the Church ; watchful of its order and 
discipline. He brought souls into the kingdom by 
his doctrine, and then built them in, by his vigilant 
care." 

9. John ROSS was born in Dublin, Ireland, July 
23, 1783. He joined this Church, August 21, 1808. 
He graduated from Middlebury College in the same 
class with Nathan Douglas, 1813. He studied over 
two years at Princeton ; was licensed to preach by 
the New London Association in 1815 ; was ordained 
by Presbytery in 1817 at Redstone, Pa.; was pastor 
at Somerset, Pa., Ripley, 0., and Richmond, Ind., 
from 1817 to 1829 ; was home missionary in Ohio and 
Indiana from 1829 to 1843 ; was colporter from 1843 
to 1849; served at Burlington, Ind., from 1849 to 
to 1850, and died at Tipton, Ind., March 11, 1876, 
aged eighty- three. 

10. Joseph Hurlbut was born in New London, 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 307 

August 22, 1799. He graduated from Yale College 
in 1818. He studied at Andover one year in the 
class of 1822, but graduated from Princeton. He 
was acting pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1822 to 1823. October 25, 
1823, he was ordained pastor of the Third Presby- 
terian Church, Albany, N. Y., where he remained till 
1826. He was without charge in New York from 
1826 to 1832 and in New London from 1832 to 1835. 
He was acting pastor of the Second Church till March 
6, 1837 ; then a missionary to the Mohegan Indians 
till 1862 ; chaplain at Fort Trumbull from 1862 to 
1867 j after that he resided in New London till his 
death. A notice of him in an historical sketch of 
the Second Church says, " the Rev. Joseph Hurl- 
but preached and administered the ordinances till a 
stated pastor could be obtained. This was about two 
years, till March 6, 1837. His labors were gratui- 
tous. They were marked by the ingathering of one 
hundred and thirteen members. Mr. Hurlbut had 
also borne one -quarter of the expense of building the 
first house of worship. He prayed at the last sacra- 
ment in the new house before his death, which oc- 
curred suddenly, June 5, 1875." 

11. John Ferguson is among those whose names 
Mr. Bacon gives as having gone into the ministry 
from this Church. He is referred to in a New Lon- 



308 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

don Telegram for 1882, in a notice of the death of 
Mr. Thomas Updike Robertson. After leaving school 
he u served an apprenticeship with a tobacconist, a 
Scotchman named Ferguson, who resided on John 
street." "Mr. Ferguson afterwards removed to 
Providence and became a Congregationalist minister. 7 ' 
Mr. Ferguson never was a member of this Church, 
but he was identified with it during his residence in 
town. He preached for a time in the town of Attle- 
boro, Mass., and also in another parish in the western 
part of the same State. Nothing further could be 
learned about him. 

12. Thomas Huntington was born in Norwich, 
December 4, 1793. He joined this Church in 1814. 
He went to Brooklyn, Conn., about 1820, became a 
Baptist, and was ordained as an evangelist and pas- 
tor September 3, 1834. He served in this capacity- 
several years, and then became a physician. He died 
in Brooklyn, December 1, 1867, aged seventy-four 
years. 

13. William Harris was a son of this Church, 
and his early life was spent in it. He joined the 
Baptists and became a licensed preacher in that de- 
nomination. He was never settled, but he had 
charge of a Baptist Church in Hadlyme for about 
four years. He became blind. The last of his life 
he was a member of Saint James' Episcopal Church. 
He died in New London. 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 309 

14. Charles Thompson was born in Stratford. 
In early life he was in the drug store of his uncle, 
Dr. Isaac Thompson, in New London. About 1816 
he left the store to pursue his studies with reference 
to preparation for the ministry. In 1823 he married 
Hannah Miner, who had joined this Church in 1814, 
and at once went as a home missionary to Danduff, 
Pa. He came to Seymour, Conn., June 28, 1830, 
where he remained till June, 1833. He came to 
Salem in October of that year, and remained till he 
died, March, 1855 ; nearly twenty-two years. 

15. John Caulkins Coit was born in New Lon- 
don in 1797. He graduated from Yale College in 
1818. He was a lawyer, and settled at Cheraw,. 
S. C. He afterwards entered the Presbyterian min- 
istry, and became pastor of an Old School Presby- 
terian Church in the same town. He was a son of 
David and Betsy Caulkins Coit, both of whom joined 
this Church in 1831. He died in 1863. 

16. Thomas Winthrop Coit. D. D., LL. D., 
was born in New London, June 28, 1803. He was 
a son of Thomas Coit, M. D., who joined this Church 
June 29, 1800, and Mary "W. Saltonstall Coit, who 
joined this Church September 20, 1795. He was 
baptized by Rev. Henry Channing, August 28, 1803. 
He united with the Church in 1821 ; the year in which 
he graduated from Yale College. He studied part of 



310 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

a year at Andover, in the class of 1826 ; was at Prince- 
ton Theological Seminary from 1824 to 1825 ; took dea- 
con's orders in the Episcopal Church June 7, 1826; was 
ordained as a priest November 14, 1827. He was 
rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Mass., from 1827 
to 1829; of Christ Church, Cambridge, Mass., from 
1829 to 1834 ; was president of Transylvania Univer- 
sity, Kentucky, from 1834 to 1837 ; was rector of 
Trinity Church, New Rochelle, N. Y., from 1839 to 
1849; was professor of Ecclesiastical History at Trin- 
ity College, Hartford, Conn., from 1849 to 1854; was 
rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. Y., from 1854 
to 1872 ; was professor of Church History at Berkeley 
Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., from 1873 till 
he died in 1885, aged eighty-two. He received 
the degree of D. D. from Columbia College in 1834, 
and of LL. D. from Trinity College in 1853. He 
was an author of some repute. Among the works 
produced by his pen are the following : A Theolog- 
ical Commonplace Book, Remarks on Norton's State- 
ment of Reasons, The Bible and Apocrypha in 
Paragraphs and Parallelisms, Townsend's Chronolog- 
ical Bible, Puritanism ; a Churchman's Defence 
Against Its Aspersions, &c. As will be gathered 
from this brief outline, he was a prominent and in- 
fluential man in the Episcopal Church. The blood 
which flowed in his veins from Puritan John Coite told. 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 311 

17. Gurdon Saltonstall Coit, D. D., was a 
younger brother of the preceding. He was born in 
New London, October 28, 1808. He was baptized 
by Dr. McEwen, February 10, 1809. He graduated 
from Yale College in 1828, at the age of nearly 
twenty. He was a year at Andover Theological Sem- 
inary, in the class of 1831, which was one of the 
most remarkable classes which ever graduated from 
that institution. He was ordained deacon in the 
Episcopal Church August 8, 1830, and a priest De- 
cember 16, 1832. He served with Trinity Church, 
Milton, Conn., in 1830-31; with St. Peter's Church, 
Plymouth, Conn., in 1832-3 ; with St. John's Church, 
Bridgeport, Conn., from 1833 to 1862; was chaplain 
of U. S. Volunteers, in 1863; served with Christ 
Church, West Haven, Conn., in 1864-65; with St. 
Michael's Church, Naugatuck, Conn., from 1866 to 

1868. He died at Southport, Conn., November 10, 

1869, aged sixty-one. He received the degree of 
D. D. from Trinity College in 1853. 

18. Robert McEwen, D. D., son of Rev. Abel 
McEwen, D. D., was born in New London, June 22, 
1808. He was baptized September 11, 1808. He 
joined this Church in 1826, at the age of eighteen. 
He graduated from Yale College in 1827 ; taught in 
the New Haven Grammar School two years ; was tutor 
in the college from 1829 to 1832. In 1833 he was grad- 



312 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

uated from the Yale Divinity School, was licensed by 
the New Haven West Association, and was ordained 
as an evangelist. He served as a home missionary 
in Michigan till 1835, when he was called to the 
South Church in Middle town, Conn ., where he was 
installed in May of that year. He remained till 
August, 1838. From 1842 to 1861 he was pastor of 
the Church in Enfield, Mass., where his ministry 
was abundantly blessed. Under his influence a num- 
ber of young people were raised up to enter the min- 
istry of the gospel, either as preachers, or as mission- 
aries, or as the efficient wives of clergymen. In 
1861 he returned to New London, where he remained 
until his death, August 29, 1883, at the age of seven- 
ty-four years and two months. He received the 
honorary degree of D. D. from Amherst College in 
1858, while yet in his Enfield pastorate. Mr. Bacon, 
in a notice of his death in his annual survey of 1883, 
pays the following tribute to his memory : ' ' Since 
1861 his home and his work have been in New Lon- 
don, where in unofficial and unpaid ministry, he led 
a life as useful as it was modest, and as blessed as it 
was generous. Never was there such a parishioner 
as this retired minister became." His wife, who 
joined the Church in the same year, 1826, outlived 
him fourteen years, and reached the ripe age of 
eighty-seven years and four months, after having 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 313 

walked in the fellowship of the Church for over sev- 
enty-one years. 

19. Elisha C. Jones was a native of Hartland, 
where he was born in 1808. But he joined this 
Church by letter in 1831, and seems to have gone 
from it into the ministry. He graduated from Yale 
College in 1831 ; taught in New London from 1831 
to 1833 ; was tutor at Yale in 1834-5 ; was licensed 
by the New London Association in 1834; married his 
wife, Julia Chappell, from this Church; and was or- 
dained pastor at Southington, June 28, 1837, where 
he remained till he died March 9, 1872, aged sixty- 
four years. He was a Fellow of Yale College from 
July 1862, until his death. 

20. Robert Coit Learned was born in New Lon- 
don, August 31, 1817. His baptism is recorded by 
Dr. McEwen. He joined this Church in 1831. He 
was doubtless a fruit of the religious interest of that 
year. He graduated from Yale College in 1837; 
studied two years at Yale Theological Seminary, and 
graduated from Andover Seminary in 1841. He was 
ordained September 23, 1843, pastor at Twinsburg, 
Ohio, where he remained till 1846. He was pastor 
at Canterbury, Conn., from 1847 to 1858; at Berlin, 
Conn., from 1858 to 1861; at Plymouth, Conn., 
from 1861 to 1865, where he died April 19, 1867. 

21. George Richards was born in New Lon- 



314 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

don, November 2, 1816. He was a grandson of Dea- 
con Jedediah Huntington. He graduated from Yale 
College in 1840. He studied one year at Andover, 
but graduated from Yale Theological Seminary in 
1845. He was tutor at Yale in 1844-5. He was or- 
dained pastor of the Central Congregational Church, 
Boston, October 8, 1845, where he remained till 
1859. He was acting pastor at Litchfield, from 1861 
to 1865, and pastor of the First Church, Bridgeport, 
from 1866 till he died there October 20, 1870. He 
was Fellow of Yale University from July, 1868, till 
his death. 

22. John Euclid Elliott was born in New 
London, October 22, 1829. He was a son of Euclid, 
and Lucy Smith (Coit) Elliott. He joined this Church 
in 1849. He was in Marietta College, Ohio, in 1853 
-4, but graduated from Amherst College in 1857, and 
from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1860. He 
was acting pastor at Barkhampstead, Conn., from 
1860 to 1863, was ordained at Ridgebury, Conn., 
May 6, 1863 ; was dismissed May 16, 1865 ; was act- 
ing pastor at Higganum, Conn., from 1865 to 1867 ; 
at Hadley, Mass., from 1867 to 1868 ; at Lucas 
Grove, Muscatine, Iowa, from 1868 to 1870 ; at Co- 
lumbus, Neb., from 1870 to 1874; at South Glaston- 
bury, Conn., from 1874 to 1879; at Newington, 
Conn., from 1880 to 1884; at Bridge water, Conn., 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 315 

from 1884 to 1887 ; without charge at North Yakima, 
Washington, from 1887, till his death, January 19, 
1888, at the age of fifty-eight. 

23. William H. Starr, a son of Deacon Will- 
iam H. Starr, was born in Groton, October 20, 1834. 
He joined this Church in 1857 ; graduated from the 
Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1859 ; 
entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in 
1862 j joined the Providence Conference in 1863, and 
was ordained in 1865. He returned to the Congre- 
gational fellowship, and was settled over the Church 
in Thornton, R. I. , in 1891, where he is still. Another 
writes of him, u in all the relations of life he is every- 
thing that is lovely and of good report." 

24. Fredrick L. Chapell was born in Water- 
ford, Conn., November 9, 1836. He graduated from 
Yale College in 1860, and from Rochester Theologi- 
cal Seminary in 1864. He entered the ministry of 
the Baptist Church, and was ordained at Middletown, 
Ohio, in 1864, where he remained till July 1, 1871; 
then he was at Evanston, 111., till July 1, 1878. Then 
he was at Janesville, Wis., till May 1, 1881, when he 
went to Flemington, N. J., where he remained till 
July 1, 1889. He then accepted a position in what 
is now called The Gordon Missionary Training 
School, in Boston, Mass., where he now is. He 
never joined this Church, but was a constant attend- 



316 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

ant upon its services, until he joined the Huntington 
Street Baptist Church, at the advice of Dr. McEwen, 
on account of his views upon the question of baptism. 

25. THOMAS Allender was born in Birming- 
ham, England, November 10, 1836. He joined this 
Church in 1860 ; graduated from Andover Theologi- 
cal Seminary in 1864 ; was acting pastor at Assabet, 
Mass., in 1865-66, where he was ordained January 4, 
1866 j was pastor at West Hampton, Mass., from 
1866, till he died in New London, September 17, 
1869. 

26. John Allender was born in New London, 
October 11, 1840. He united with this Church iu 
1865. He graduated from Chicago Theological Sem- 
inary in 1868. After a summer spent at St. Cathe- 
rine and Laclede, Mo., he was engaged, November 
10, 1868, for one year. February 23, the next year, 
he was ordained at Laclede. He had charge of the 
two Churches for two years, and theu remained six 
months longer with the Church in Laclede, till May, 

1871. September 15, 1871, he began at Prairie 
City, la., and closed his labors there December 22, 

1872, but continued to supply the Church till the 
spring of 1873. May 11 of that year he began work 
at Glenwood, where he remained three years. In 
May, 1876, he was called to Red Oak, la., where he 
remained till September, 1884. He then returned 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 317 

east and took a post graduate course at Yale Theo- 
legical Seminary, from 1884 to 1886. Meanwhile 
he was with the Taylor Church, New Haven, from 
1885 to 1887. He was afterwards with the Church 
in Champaign, 111., from April, 1888, till August, 
1892. He was without charge in New Haven till 
December 10, 1893, when he began at Middlefield, 
Conn., where he is still laboring. 

27. C. Perley Tinker was born in New London, 
July 26, 1864. He joined this Church in 1883. He 
fitted for college at the Bulkeley High School, and 
entered the Wesleyan University, at Middle town, 
Conn., from which he graduated in 1889. He stud- 
ied theology at the theological school of Boston Uni- 
versity, and graduated in 1892. He entered the 
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was 
ordained to deacon's orders April 3, 1892, and to the 
full ministry April 5, 1896. His charges have been 
as follows: Ozone Park, L. I., 1892 and 1893; Flo- 
ral Park, L. I., from 1894 to 1896; Bay Shore, L. I., 
1897, where he is stationed at this writing. In all his 
charges he has proved himself to be a good soldier of 
the Lord. He is the son of Hon. George F. Tinker, 
who, for more than a decade has been the efficient 
superintendent of the Sunday school of this Church. 
Although Mr. Tinker has chosen to be an under shep- 
herd in another fold, he is a child of the First Church 



318 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

of Christ. Of Lis relation to it he writes: "I owe 
no small debt of gratitude to the dear old First Church 
of Christ. Owing to its precious services, together 
with the good example of godly parents, I am able to 
say with truth, I believe, that from eight years of age 
till twenty- one, when I left for college, I scarcely 
missed a single service in the sanctuary, Sunday school 
room, or lecture room. Earlier still ray religious des- 
tiny was bent, in part, in the infant class room of the 
Sabbath school. Particularly was a deep impression 
made by a wail motto, ' Thou God Seest Me,' which 
has hung from the wall of my memory almost every 
week since. My first strong and definite personal 
revolution was occasioned, when I was about twelve, 
by a sermon from the lips of Rev. E. W. Bacon, 
upon 'I will make you fishers of men.' That clear 
and logical discourse so impressed itself upon my 
mind that on the way home from Church I exclaimed 
to a comparjioD, Charles E. Reeves, now a gifted 
minister of the gospel, ' Well, Charlie, if we cannot 
be fishers of men, we can be fishers of boys. 7 Where- 
upon our ministerial career actually and immediately 
began by the organizing of a Saturday religious serv- 
ice for boys. I owe much to the extraordinary de- 
votion of my Sabbath school teacher, Mrs. Samuel 
Dennis. * * * I owe my interest in world-wide 
missions largely to the First Church, also the Puritan 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 319 

zeal I seem to have for the rugged piety of New 
England Congregationalism. My pivotal decision for 
Christ, which resulted in unmistakable conversion, I 
owe to the Huntington Street Baptist Church, but 
my early Christian development Avas strongly im- 
pressed with the First Church seal. For it was that 
Church which initiated me into the work of soul sav- 
ing, which is now such a passion in my ministry. 
Pardon me if I add that I owe positive gratitude to 
Dr. S. Leroy Blake, the present pastor, for the in- 
spiration of his godly missionary zeal, which, ever 
since I knew him first, has been a sheet anchor to my 
Christian life." 

28. James Hunter was born in Scotland. He 
first came to New London in connection with the Sal- 
vation Army, in whose work he developed great spir- 
itual power. He joined this Church in 1889, by let- 
ter from the Church in Brooklyn of which Dr. T. 
DeWitt Talmage was pastor. He was educated for 
the ministry at Hartford Theological Seminary, which 
he entered in 1889 ; at Edinburgh University, and at 
Yale Theological Seminary, from which he graduated 
in 1892. He entered the ministry of the Presbyterian 
Church at Devil's Lake City, North Dakota, the same 
year. At this writing he is in California. 

Thomas Douglas was born in Waterford, March 
29, 1807. He graduated from Yale College in 1831. 



320 EARLY HISTORY OP THE FIRST CHURCH. 

He studied two years at Andover in the class of 1837, 
intending to enter the ministry. But his health com- 
pelled him to relinquish this purpose, and he removed 
to California, where he resided at San Jose, and was 
teacher and farmer. Later he removed to New 
Jersey, and then to New London, where he died 
January 27, 1895, aged almost eighty-eight years. 

There are others who, though they did not enter 
the ministry directly from this Church, are yet more 
or less closely identified with it through their family 
connections. One of these is Rev. Joshua CoiT, 
the Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary 
Society. He was baptized by Dr. McEwen, in this 
Church, in 1832. His father afterwards became a 
member of the Second Congregational Church. But 
the roots of the religious life of his family are in the 
First Church. For it descended from John Coit, who 
came to New London with Mr. Blinman in 1650, 
through his second son Joseph, who was a deacon of 
this Church. Mr. Coit was born in New London, 
February 4, 1832. He graduated from Yale College 
in 1853, and from Andover in 1856. After studying 
two years in Germany at the Universities of Halle 
and Berlin, he was ordained, October 13, 1860, as 
pastor of the Church in Brookfield, Mass. He was 
pastor of the Lawrence Street Church, Lawrence, 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 321 

Mass., from 1874 to 1883, when he was called to his 
present position. 

Dwight W. Learned, Ph. D., D. D., is a son of 
Kev. Robert C. Learned, who was a son o£ this 
Church. Dr. Learned was never a member of it, 
but his family connections are still in it. He can be 
claimed as a grandson of the First Church. He was 
born in Canterbury, October 12, 1848. He grad- 
uated from Yale College in 1870. He received the 
degree of Ph. D. from his Alma Mater in 1873. and 
the degree of D. D. from the same institution in 
1896. He was ordained, and went to Japan as a 
missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. in 1878, to be con- 
nected with the Doshisha in Kyoto, as a professor in 
its theological department at the opening of that in- 
stitution. He is still in Japan. 

John Calvin Goddard was a son of Deacon 
James E. Goddard, and is therefore a grandson of 
this Church. He was born in Brooklyn, X. Y., 
September 18, 1852. He fitted for college at the old 
Bartlett High School from which he graduated in 
1869. He entered Yale the same year and gradu- 
ated in 1873. He writes "I went to Texas for 
health and engaged in business there until 1878, when 
I entered the Chicago Theological Seminary, gradu- 
ating in 1881." June 23 of that year he had charge, 
from the beginning, of what was then called the 



322 EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Western Avenue Branch of the First Congregational 
Church of Chicago, but which has since been known 
as The Covenant Congregational Church. From this 
charge he came to his present field of labor, in Salis- 
bury, Conn., where he was installed October 14, 
1884. 

Writing of his connection with this Church he 
says, " I was a Sunday school boy and an attendant 
of the old First Church for five or six years discontin- 
uously prior to entering college, and certainly re- 
ceived my strongest religious impressions under its 
roof. I think I owe as much to the prayer meetings 
of the old conference room as anything, and well re- 
member one occasion when Deacon Crump and myself 
made up the entire meeting, which he conducted 
throughout. It was due to the helpful influence of a 
member of the First Church, Dr. Robert McEwen, 
that I was confirmed in my choice of the ministry.' 7 

If to those who have entered the ministry were 
added the names of the men who have gone from this 
Church, and its families, into the other learned pro- 
fessions, to occupy conspicuous places, the list would 
be a long one. Those whom a church raises up, and 
sends forth to their life-work, are among its fruits. 
Through them its influence widens out to touch 
broader fields than its own immediate parish ; widens 
out to touch a world and help lift it. In this way this 



MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH. 323 

Puritan mother, and pioneer o£ all the Churches of 
every name in Southeastern Connecticut, has con- 
tributed her share to the world's advancement, and 
has brought strength and blessing to Churches of 
other names and polity, some of whose most efficient 
members had their early training in this fold. " By 
their fruits ye shall know them." Judged by these, 
the record of this ancient Church is one Avhich it 
need not blush to own ; and what it has done for the 
kingdom in these more than two hundred and fifty 
years of life is only a pledge of what it may be ex- 
pected to do in the future, if the coming men and 
women are as loyal to God as the founders were. 



INDEX. 



Adams, Rev. Eliphalet, 3; baptized 
Governor's son, 261; sermon on 
Governor's death, 262. 

Adams, Dea. Pygan, 273. 

Adams, Rev. William, 296. 

Allender, Rev. John, 316; Rev. 
Thomas, 315. 

Altar set up in the wilderness, 31. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 110, 113, 114, 
147, 199, 244. 

Anniversaries of Church, time for, 6. 

Antientest Buriall Place, 37. 64, 72, 
99, 143, 270, 271, 274. 

Arnold, Dea. John, 278, 282. 

Avery, James, 26, 41, 43, 46, 55, 66, 73, 
74, 120, 121, 158. 

Avery, Rev. John, 297, 298. 

Bailey, Lydia, 42, 128, 156, 157. 

Baptists in Groton, 221. 

Baptized children, relation to 
Church, 168-170. 

Bam meeting house, 68, 69, 70, 73. 

Barnett, Rev. Thomas, 192, 193. 

Belcher, Dea. William, 299. 

Bell, the first, 199; presented by Win- 
throp, 210. 

Blinman, 10; in Gloucester, 25, 60; 
men who followed him, 25-30,66; 
in Pequot, 1, 13, 62 ; various items 
about. 33, 35, 36, 43; involved in 
controversy, 44, 46, 50; came to 
America, etc., 52, 55, 56, 57, 59; 
trouble in Marshfield, 58, 59 ; testi- 
mony to, 59-61; man of peace, 60, 
75,77; why he left Gloucester, 6^, 
63; contract with, 63; grants of 
land to, 63-66; where his house 
stood, 65; Blinman meeting house, 
70-73; his ministry acceptable, 74; 
sent to Boston, 75; preached in 
Mystic, 78-80 ; to Indians, 81 ; ended 
his own ministry and left New Lon- 
don, 67, 82; called to Newfound- 
land; at Bristol, England, 83; let- 
ters, 84-88; his children, 89, death, 
55, 90. 



Boundary disputes, 242-244. 

Bradstreet, Ann, 148, 149, 294. 

Bradstreet, Gov. Simon, 30, 147, 148. 

Bradstreet, Rev. Simon, 2, 34, 38, 41 ; 
his call, 120; arrival in New Lon- 
don, etc, 120-123, 124, 125; salary 
increased, 124, 136; administering 
sacraments ; additions, etc., 126-131; 
baptisms by, 128 ; no half-way cove- 
nant, 129, 157; no marriages, 131; 
Bradstreet meeting house, 131-136; 
his decline. 136; journal, 139-142; 
death, etc., 142, 143; remembrances, 
marriage, children, etc., 144-146; 
his grandfather, father and mother, 
147-149; letters, 149-153. 

Bradstreet, Rev. Simon, Jr., 145, 146, 
293. 

Brewster, Jonathan, 23, 24. 

Brewster, Rev. Nathaniel, 119. 

Brooks, Dea. Thaddeus, 282. 

Bruen, Obadiah, 3, 25, 26, 44, 46, 47, 
55, 61, 62, 65, 66, 98, 160. 161. 

Bulkeley, Rev. Gershom, birth and 
ancestry, 95, 96, 98; contract with, 
99-102; left Church voluntarily, 
102, 111 ; move to ordain, 103; signs 
of uneasiness, 104, 110; efforts to 
keep him fail, 105; reasons for 
going, 105-110; what Dr. Chapin 
said of him, 109, 115; went to 
Wethersfield, 111; medical skill, 
112 ; in politics, 109-115; what Dr. 
Chauncv said, 113; his will, death, 
etc., 116T18. 

Bulkeley, Rev. Peter, 29. 96, 97 ; his 
widow, 98, 99, 122. 

Cape Ann Lane, 33, 62, 67. 

Caulkins. Hugh, 44, 45, 66/ 69, 160, 
275. 

Chapell, Rev. F. L., 315. 

Chapman, Dea. Oliver, 278. 

Charter, the, 9, 12, 114, 244, 246. 

Churches, nine oldest, 54; permitted 
by legislature, etc., 39. 

Cleaveland, Dea. Wm. P., 284. 



326 



INDEX. 



Coit, Rev. Gurdon Saltonstal], 311; 
John, 27, 44, 46, 66, 160; Rev. John 
Caulkins, 309; Dea. Joseph, 27, 
202, 270; Rev. Joseph 295; Rev. 
Joshua, 320; Rev. Thomas Win- 
throp, 309. 

Coggshall, Dea. W. H., 286. 

Connecticut, planting of, etc., 10. 11, 
12, 20, 21, 242, 244. 

Contribution box, not new, 121. 

Cotton, Rev. John, 10, 11, 12, 162. 

Crump, Dea. W. C, 2S8. 

Curfew, its beginning, 211. 

Daughter, first of the Church, 138; 
second, 220, 221. 

Davenport, Rev. John, 10, 12, 21, 131, 
163, 164. 

Deacons' meetings. 13, 92, 292. 

Denison, Capt. George, 26, 44, 74, 
78, 80, 92, 158-160, 292; General 
married Bradstreet, 145. 

Dorchester Church, 10, 32, 49. 

Douglas, Rev. Nathan, 304; Dea. 
William, 41, 43, 105, 119, 120, 123, 
124, 130, 141, 158, 268, 269; Dea. 
William, Jr., 270; Dea. William, 
third, 275. 

Drum to call to meeting, etc.. 68, 71, 
70. 

Dudley, Ann, 143, 148, 149, 294.. 

Elliot, Rev. John, 81, 119; Rev. J. 
E., 314. 

Exodus from England, reasons for, 
16. 

First Church, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 ; emigrated 
from Gloucester, 10, 33, 50; first 
records, 41, 42, 126 ; not formed in 
Conn., 39, 40; first list of members, 
41; where and when organized, 47- 
52; number in order of formation, 
53, 54; early parish, 95 ; early mem- 
bers, 154-161. 

Fosdyke, Dea. Thomas, 273. 

Founders, character of, 29, 30, 228. 

Frink, Dea. Andrew, 287. 

Goddard, Dea. J. E., 290; Rev. J. C, 
321. 

Gratuity voted the Town, 210, 231. 

Green, testimony to Puritans, 17. 

Green, Dea. Timothy, 272, 274; Dea. 
Timothy, the second, 276. 

Half-way covenant, 75, 108, 110, 129, 
162-174, 206, 207. 

Harris, Dea. Joseph, 274; Rev. Wil- 
liam, 308. 

Hempstead, Dea. John, 274; Joshua, 
157, 272, 274. 

Hewitt, Rev. Nathaniel, 302. 

Hill, Ruth. 42, 128, 156, 160. 



Hooker, Rev. Thomas, drafted Con- 
stitution of Conn., 9; democratic 
spirit and reasons for not remain- 
ing in Mass., 11, 29; led Church 
from Cambridge to Hartford, 10, 
20,48; his constitution the begin- 
ning of democracy, 21; an able 
divine, 97; views on baptism, 131, 
163-165. 

Hough, Deacon William, 41, 141, 156, 
269. 

Hunter, Rev. James, 319. 

Huntington, Dea. Jedediah, 279; 
Rev. Daniel, 300; Rev. Joshua, 
298, ; Rev. Thomas, 308. 

Hurlbut, Rev. Joseph, 307. 

Jones, Rev Elisha C, 313. 

Laud, Archbishop, 16, 56. 

Learned, Rev. Dwight, 320; Dea. 
Ebenezer, 285; Dea. J. C, 289; 
Rev. R. C, 313. 

Legacy, Liveen, 213-215. 

Lester, Andrew, 27, 44, 66, 160. 

Lufler, Dea. Henry, 291. 

Manwaring, Dea. Robert, 276. 

Marshfield, 35, 55, 57-59, 62. 

Mather, Rev. Cotton, 262; Rev. In- 
crease, letters to, 149-153 ; Nathan- 
iel, 28 ; Richard, 49. 

Mayflower, the compact of, 11 

Meeting House, the first, 70-74; the 
Bradstreet, controversy over ad- 
justed, 132; finished, 198; burned, 
208, 209; the Saltonstall, 209, 210. 

Meeting House Hill, 37, 64,65, 67, 68. 

Miner, Dea. Clement, 24, 127, 271 ; 
Thomas 23, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 78, 
79, 90, 91, 92, 99, 109, 125, 127, 139, 
155, 156, 158, 159, 160, 265, 266-268- 

Morgan James, 41, 44, 120, 121. 

New Haven planted, 10, 21 ; half-way- 
covenant in, 164. 

Newman, Rev. Antipas, 91, 92. 

Noyes, Rev. James, 138, 239. 

Oakes, Rev. Edward, 191. 

Otis, Dea. Asa, 286. 

Palfrey, 107,110. 

Park, Robert, 25, 66, 68, 69, 160; Dea. 
Thomas, 25, 44, 66, 136, 159, 266; 
Dea. William, 120, 121, 266. 

Parish Way, 76, 166, 167. 

Parson, the early a farmer, 64; in 
politics, 232-234. 

Peck, Dea. Stephen, 284. 

Pequot planted, 10, 13, 15, 66, 67. 

Perkins, Dea. Elias, 283, 

Peters, Rev. Thomas, 12, 13, 32, 37. 

Plmnbe, Dea. John, 271. 

Prentis, Dea. A. F., 289. 



INDEX. 



327 



Puritanism, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21. 

Puritans, 22, 29, 30, 36. 

Richards, Rev. George, 313; Dea. 
Guy, 281. 

Rogerenes, 137, 138, 175-190 ; at pres- 
ent, 189. 

Rogers, Bathsheba, 177, 178, 183; 
James, 41, 99, 137, 175, 176, 182; 
John, 137, 177, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 
184, 186, J 88, 212, 213; Samuel, 157. 

Boss, Rev. John, 306. 

Rice, Goodman, 156, 160. 

Salary by subscription, 198. 

Saltonstall, Gurdon, 3, 30; called, 
193; joined the Church, ordained, 
etc., 195; ancestry, 196, 197; acces- 
sions under, 201-206; baptisms, 
half-way covenant, etc., 206-208; 
marriages by, 208; collision with 
Rogerenes, 212; strict discipli- 
narian, 216, 217; complaints against, 
etc., 218-220; as a preacher, 222-227; 
chosen governor, 230, 232, 236; 
steps leading thereto, 234-236 ; Say- 
brook synod, 237-239; territorial 
disputes, 242, 243; opposition to, 
249; attendance on official duties, 
250; letter to people of New Lon- 
don, 252, 253; his will, 253; where 
he lived, 254-259 ; his familv, 260; 
died, 261 ; encomiums, 262-264. 

Seats assigned m Church' 198. 

Services between Blinman and 
Bulkeley, 93. 



Shepard, Rev. Thomas, 49. 

Smith, Dea. John, 268. 

Stanton, Thomas, 91, 139, 158, 160. 

Starr, Dea. Cortland, 287; Dea. Geo. 
E., 290; Dea. W. H., 288; Rev. 
W. PL, 314. 

Stoddardean plan, 172. 

Taxes burdensome, 248. 

Thanksgiving appointed, 141; omit- 
ted, 140. 

Thomson, 81. 

Thompson, Rev. William, 308. 

Tibbets, Dea. J. W., 287. 

Tinker, Rev. C. P., 317; John, 63, 
93, 94, 292. 

Town, the parish, 94, 95. 

Trumbull Dr., 1, 15, 22, 36, 89, 113, 
243; J. H., 107, 110. 

Unitarianism began, 171, 173. 

Warham, Rev. John, 10, 75. 

Wilcox, Dea. J. H., 290. 

Winslow, Edward, 13, 56, 57, 58. 

Winthrop, John, Jr., secured charter, 
9, 15; free spirit, 10, 12; ancestry, 
14; first governor on soil of Conn., 
15; letter about settling New Eng- 
land, 18; a Puritan, 19; his con- 
temporaries, 20-25; letter to his 
son, 91 ; Davenport, writes to, 163. 

Winthrop, John, Sr., 17, 19. 

Yale College removed from Say- 
brook, 239, 242. 

York, Duke of, 110, 243.* 



